Sri Lankan opposition hails truce with Tamil rebels

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Sri Lankan opposition hails truce with Tamil rebels

Sri Lanka's main opposition party Tuesday hailed the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, saying it would continue.

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Sri Lanka's main opposition party Tuesday hailed the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, saying it would continue.

The spokesman for the People's Alliance headed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sarath Amunugama, told reporters "the ceasefire agreement is a fact of Sri Lankan life."

Serious doubts have been raised that the ceasefire in force since February 2002 may be under threat with Kumaratunga's constitutional action on Nov. 4 to take over the Ministry of Defense from the government of her rival Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Amunugama said that the situation in the country since the president's action has been very satisfactory.

He praised the government troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels for upholding the truce.

The ceasefire agreement came in as the first step of the Norwegian-backed effort to end the long running ethnic conflict.

The peace process is the main thrust of the Wickremesinghe administration. However, Kumaratunga has been critical of the peace process and the ceasefire agreement.

Shortly after taking over the three key ministries on Nov. 4, Kumaratunga said while addressing the nation that the ceasefire agreement was illegal.

Due to the current political crisis between the president and the prime minister, the Norwegian peace facilitators withdrew fromthe process, claiming lack of clarity as to who was in overall charge.

Wickremesinghe told Kumaratunga that he was unable to continue leading the peace process without the powers of the Defense Ministry.

Kumaratunga is seeking cooperation from Wickremesinghe on the matters of national defense by proposing the establishment of a committee in this regard.

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