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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 23, 2003

Sri Lankan PM to take charge of peace process: report

The Committee of National Consensus appointed by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed that the latter should take charge of the peace process and that the peace talks should proceed without any further delay, the official Sunday Observer reported.


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The Committee of National Consensus appointed by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed that the latter should take charge of the peace process and that the peace talks should proceed without any further delay, the official Sunday Observer reported.

The mutual agreement was reached after lengthy discussions at a meeting held on Friday night by the committee with the participation of senior officials from both the president and the prime minister's side.

When informed of the mutual agreement, both the president and the prime minister indicated that neither of them had objections to the decision made at the meeting.

After a political crisis erupted in the country early this month, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has insisted that the president should take over peace negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels as she has taken over the key Defense Ministry along with the ministry of interior and mass communication.

However, President Kumaratunga has asked the prime minister to continue peace talks with the LTTE rebels as he has been in charge of the peace process since the signing of the ceasefire agreement with the rebels in February last year.

The Norwegian facilitators earlier this month suspended their role in the peace process, citing lack of clarity as to who is responsible for the peace talks as a major impediment to continuing with negotiations with the LTTE rebels.

The Committee of National Consensus was appointed by Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe following their second meeting on Nov. 18 in a bid to solve the current political crisis.

The committee has been working around the clock to finalize a national consensus by the Dec. 15 deadline on key issue of defense, economy, the role of the media, independent police and election commission and take the stalled peace process forward.

Peace talks between the government and the LTTE rebels was stalled by the rebels in April following six previous rounds since September last year.


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