Articles from the author

President Chandrika Kumaratunga was set to duck a crucial meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to iron out differences in cohabitation government and was due to fly unannounced to London leaving behind outstanding issues to be worked out for a later date.

Pro-Tamil guerrilla political parties in Parliament extended their support to the ruling party in Sri Lanka to defeat a no-confidence motion yesterday against a key government minister moved by the main opposition People's Alliance (PA).

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has begun preparing the ground to offer the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) an interim administration in the north and eastern provinces as talks between the two sides progress.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have urged Tamil parliamentarians to carry out a campaign among Colombo-based diplomats to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to expedite implementation of the cease-fire agreement.

The main opposition People's Alliance (PA) yesterday said it was opposed to fresh elections, but added that its alliance was prepared to face another poll if the ruling United National Front (UNF) holds one or would look out for other 'democratic' ways of gaining power.

Chief Buddhist prelates in Sri Lanka have urged both President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to settle their differences and work for the progress of the country.

Visiting Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf yesterday declared that he would fully support Sri Lanka's peace efforts and that his country was prepared to provide any moral, diplomatic and material support to it.

The ruling United National Front (UNF) has resolved to put forward three demands to President Chandrika Kumaratunga seeking her consent for legislative measures aimed at facilitating the cohabitation agreement between the government and the executive.

Sri Lanka's ruling United National Front (UNF) is considering calling for parliamentary elections if the President Chand-rika Kumaratunga-led opposition People's Alliance (PA) continues a confrontational attitude and blocks the government's progress.

A secret document from a stolen briefcase of an influential opposition politician outlining a constitutional coup to oust Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has become the latest spanner in the works of Sri Lanka's laboured efforts to make cohabitation government work.

Mahinda Rajapaksha, the opposition leader in Parliament, who has been facing a leadership crisis over the past few months, is now facing a fresh threat from the back benchers of his party.

No 10-day ultimatums, no deadlines, no conditions, and no letters have gone from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, but a summit meeting between the two leaders is scheduled for early next week for make or break talks on whether a cohabitation government can work, both the President's Office and the Prime Minister's Office have confirmed.