SL President will not attend opening session of parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2003, 14:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament is scheduled to meet Wednesday morning at 10.30 a.m. after two weeks' prorogation by the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge. However, the President will not attend parliament and speaker Mr.Joseph Michael Perera will deliver the opening address instead, parliamentary sources said, adding that he will read her inaugural address.


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Sri Lanka PM, President agree on stopgap committee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2003, 08:34 GMT]
“There was no breakthrough in today’s talks between the President and the Prime Minister”, a senior Sri Lankan government official in Colombo said Tuesday. He said that it was agreed during the meeting to appoint a committee of officials to “work out the details of future working arrangements under which the President and Prime Minister could work together on the important national issues”.
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‘Let SL President resign and call fresh Presidential elections’ –TNA MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2003, 16:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, should resign and call fresh Presidential elections as a way out of the current constitutional crisis without derailing the peace process and bringing more hardships on the people, said Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandraneru, the Tamil National Alliance’s Member of Parliament from the Amparai district, speaking to a gathering of fishermen at Alaiyadivembu in his district Monday, sources said.
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SLA refuses permission to TNA MP to visit civil office

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2003, 15:18 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday refused permission to the Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr. Mavai Senathirajah to pay an official visit to the office of the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for Jaffna district which is housed in a portion of the Thellipalai Cancer Hospital which is located in the high security zone. The Thellipalai Cancer Hospital has been allowed to function since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, civil authorities said.
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"Executive Presidency must be removed" - Ravaya

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2003, 11:58 GMT]
Influential Sinhala political weekly, Ravaya, in an editorial argued for the abolition of executive presidency or at the minimum clipping the powers of the Presidency. It said that neither the President Ms. Kumaratunge nor the Prime Minister Wickremesinghe are inclined to do so because of their self-interest.


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Sri Lanka's President and PM to meet again

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 18:22 GMT]
The second round of talks between the President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe are expected to be held Tuesday at the Presidential office for the first time after Norway’s pulling out of the peace process it has brokered twenty two months ago with a ceasefire agreement between the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, political sources said.


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PM holds talks with Malwatte Mahanayake

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2003, 19:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasignhe Saturday afternoon called on the Mahanayake of Malwatte Chapter Most Venerable Rambukwelle Vipassi Thera in Kandy, capital of the central province and discussed the current political crisis. Senior minister Mr. G.L.Peiris and the chairman of the United National Party Mr.Malik Samarawickrema accompanied Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to Kandy, government party sources said.
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SL President requests PM to continue peace talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 13:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, Friday requested the Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, to continue the peace negotiation efforts in the context of recent changes.
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Sri Lanka's PM withdraws from peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 10:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, Friday said that he has informed the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, to take in charge of the peace process, saying he is unable to take forward the process launched two years ago due to the current political crisis.
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Norway temporarily withdraws from peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 06:09 GMT]
"Peace talks could have started tomorrow, provided there were clarity about who is holding political authority and responsibility on behalf of the Government to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire agreement and the resumption of peace negotiations. Until last week there was such clarity. Today there is no such clarity. Until such clarity is re-established, there is no space for further efforts by the Norwegian government to assist the parties.", Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Vidar Helgesen told reporters at a press conference held at Hotel Hilton at 11 a.m today.
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SL President, Prime Minister brief their constituent parties

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 10:28 GMT]
President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Thursday began separately briefing their constituent parties in the main opposition People Alliance (PA) and the United National Front (UNF) respectively with regard to the outcome of their talks held Wednesday at the Presidential House on the current political crisis, political sources said.
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TNA urges UNF not to abdicate responsibility

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 17:18 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Wednesday told Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, that its support to the United National Front government was totally related to the peace process and assured him its continued support to further the peace process. The TNA urged the Prime Minister that the United National Front government should not abdicate its responsibility to meaningfully continue with the peace process.
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Sri Lanka’s President meets Norwegian envoys

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 16:54 GMT]
Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgesen, special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr.Hans Brattskar, and an officer of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo, Mr. Tomas Strangeland, met with Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, and discussed the resumption of peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the Janadipathi Mandiraya (President’s Residence) in Colombo Wednesday, sources said.
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‘Can’t achieve anything with the Constitution’ – Victor Ivan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 14:03 GMT]
“The situation is very critical and not very easy to resolve. This crisis will affect the peace process in a big way. Our constitution is the problem. It is wrong. We can’t achieve anything with it. It has to be reformed while a door is kept fully open for a solution to the ethnic conflict. The Prime Minister is a very smart leader but he is greedy for this constitution. He wants to keep it”, said Mr. Victor Ivan, editor of the influential Sinhala political weekly, Ravaya, in an interview with TamilNet Wednesday about the constitutional crisis in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka's PM invites TNA for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 06:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has invited the Tamil National Alliance for talks on Wednesday evening to discuss the present constitutional crisis and the future of the peace process. Earlier on the day Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe is scheduled to meet the President at the latter's invitation at the Presidential Secretariat, political sources said.
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SL President invites PM for talks on national government

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 12:43 GMT]
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister Monday evening Sri Lanka’s President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge has invited Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe for talks on her proposal to form a Government of Reconstruction and reconciliation. She has given three dates and times to hold the talks, government sources said.


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UNF prepared to face snap elections - Peiris

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 09:37 GMT]
The UNF spokesman and Minister of Constitutional Affairs Mr. G.L.Peiris said Monday that the Prime Minister Mr. Wickremsinghe and his government are prepared to face a snap election, media sources said. It is logical to assume that we have to resolve the "threshold issue" before anything else, Mr. Peiris is reported to have told the media. The Prime Minister's office denied earlier reports on the talks being postponed. The decision is to be taken after the LTTE's views are received through the Norwegian Foreign Deputy Mr.Helgesen, who is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka today.
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Getting tough on the Tigers

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 00:31 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s strategy for holding fast to the reins of power in Colombo is fundamentally in conflict with sustaining the peace process in Sri Lanka, Tamil politicians and commentators say. The President and her allies assert that the Sri Lankan state should get tough on the Liberation Tigers to safeguard Sinhala national interests. As her standoff with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took a new turn Sunday, it appeared inevitable that she might match her words with deeds in tune with the sentiments of her increasingly hawkish Sinhala constituency.
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NorthEast Trade Union criticises SL President's actions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 2003, 14:56 GMT]
North East Trade Unions Federation (NETUF) at a special meeting held Sunday condemned the recent actions by the President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge as a step to derail the peace talks between the United National Front (UNF) government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," sources said.


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Sri Lanka's PM stresses priority attention to peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2003, 10:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said Friday that the continuation of peace process should receive priority attention. " I would meet all the political parties soon to take forward the peace process," he told journalists on his arrival in Colombo, media sources said
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