Lankan leaders fail to resolve crisis

Sri Lanka's political crisis is set for a long deadlock as the squabbling president and prime minister failed to agree who should control the military, an official said yesterday.

Both sides have agreed to keep up negotiations through senior officials but no resumption of talks was likely until early next year, government spokesman G. L. Peiris said.

President Chandrika Kumara-tunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who are from rival parties, met several times in recent weeks to try to find a way to work together.

They had set a deadline of Monday to resolve their differences but with no breakthrough, decided to extend it.

"They have made progress on having a consensus on the economy, good governance and things like that but on the key issue of defence, there is no agreement," Peiris told reporters.

On November 4, Kumaratunga sacked the defence, interior and information ministers, took over their portfolios and suspended parliament for two weeks.

Shortly afterwards Wickrem-esinghe said he could not lead the peace process with the Tamil Tiger rebels because he no longer had control over defence.

Norwegian peace brokers also suspended their role, saying there was no clarity as to who was in charge in Colombo.

There has been no agreement on re-starting the peace initiative, Peiris said, adding the Norwegians were ready to resume their work provided the political crisis was resolved.

Political analysts and diplomats have speculated that the president may call snap elections, which would be four years ahead of schedule, to end the political impasse.

The country will hold key local council elections starting March enabling both sides to test their electoral strength.

Meanwhile, just a few weeks ago Sri Lanka seemed set to start historic talks aimed at ending decades of ethnic bloodshed, but a power struggle between the president and prime minister has shattered the high hopes that ushered in 2003.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) unveiled their first ever blueprint for peace on November 1 clearing the way for a resumption of talks which they had put on hold in April, saying the government was failing to deliver on its promises.

Sri Lanka's foreign backers, led by the United States, Japan, the European Union and India, welcomed the move to restart talks, but the bubble burst just four days later when the president sparked a power struggle with her premier.