COLOMBO, 13 November 2003 — Sri Lanka’s rival president and prime minister met yesterday for the first time since the island descended into political turmoil last week, but failed to make a breakthrough in talks on resolving their bitter standoff.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met for two hours at the president’s residence in the capital amid tight security — their first face-to-face encounter since a Nov. 4 power grab by the president.
“There was an exchange of views on various matters,” Bradmon Weerakoon, secretary to the prime minister, told the Associated Press. He did not elaborate, but said “both will consult their parties and get back next week to have more talks.”
Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was neither a breakthrough, nor a breakdown.
Kumaratunga last week wrested control of the ministries of defense, interior and media from Wickremesinghe, claiming he has made too many concessions to the Tamil rebels. The president also suspended Parliament and briefly declared emergency rule.
Yesterday’s meeting was expected to ease concerns that their standoff could fracture a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire that halted 19 years of fighting between government and Tamil Tiger rebel forces in February 2002.
The truce led to six rounds of peace talks, but the rebels walked out of the talks in April, demanding broader administrative powers in Tamil-majority areas of the island.
Peace talks had been expected to start after the rebels submitted a proposal for broad autonomy on Oct. 31 — but the proposal alarmed Kumaratunga and the ensuing crisis in Colombo set back the planned talks.
Norwegian envoys, Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgesen, and special envoy Erik Solheim also met with Kumaratunga later yesterday. No details of their meetings were immediately available.
Kumaratunga had invited Wickremesinghe to discuss forming a “national unity government.” But the prime minister said before yesterday’s meeting that he wanted to discuss the fate of the peace process instead.
Both issues were addressed at the meeting, and Wickremesinghe offered the president to handle the peace process if she was going to hold onto the ministries, officials from both sides said.
Given the animosity between Kumaratunga and the rebels — whose suicide bombers tried to kill her in 1999, blinding her in one eye — it is unlikely that the ruthless guerrilla group would agree to talk to her.
Also, Wickremesinghe says that he holds more than half of the 225-member Parliament’s support and that it’s unnecessary to form a new alliance with the president. A joint statement signed by Weerakoon and W. Karunaratne, secretary to the president, said yesterday’s talks were “cordial and friendly.”
“After an exchange of views on events leading to the present situation, the president and prime minister decided to move forward and continue the dialogue with all parties concerned,” they said.
The Norwegians are to set to travel to the rebel capital of Kilinochchi today, and rebel sources say top reclusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was likely to meet with them, the first such meeting in several months.
Despite no immediate resolution to the political crisis, the talks gave investors renewed confidence. The Colombo Stock Exchange climbed 3.7 percent Wednesday after plummeting last week following Kumaratunga’s power grab. The market is expected to shoot up about 20 points today, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
“As long as there’s no breakdown in talks it will be good news for the market,” Lasantha Iddamalgoda of CT Smith Stock Brokers said.
