Colombo, Nov 17: Sri Lanka's feuding president and the Prime Minister will meet again this week to find a solution to a power struggle that has threatened to derail efforts to end the country's 20-year civil war with Tamil rebels, a government spokesman said today. "The Prime Minister has accepted an invitation to meet with the President either on Tuesday or Thursday," G L Peiris told reporters.

It will be the second meeting between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe since Nov 4 when the president took control of the ministries of defense, interior and media, suspended Parliament and briefly imposed emergency rule - all while Wickremesinghe was visiting the United States.

Kumaratunga argues that Wickremesinghe has threatened Sri Lanka's integrity by making too many concessions to the rebels in his efforts to end the conflict.
The political crisis prompted the Norwegian government, which brokered a cease-fire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels in 2002, to announce it was withdrawing from its role as mediator with the tigers until the two leaders reconcile.

The last meeting between the two produced no breakthrough.

Kumaratunga has said that she wants Wickremesinghe to carry forward the peace process, but the Prime Minister says she must return control of the defense ministry first.

"The defense ministry is the vital ingredient in the peace process," spokesman Peiris said.

Bureau Report