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Sri Lankan president denies attempt to scuttle peace bid
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has denied she is trying to scuttle a Norwegian-backed peace bid between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.
Ms Kumaratunga's office said she "categorically denied" remarks attributed to her that she could cancel the Oslo-brokered truce deal "with one letter to the army commander".
The president has been critical of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who has entered into a formal bilateral ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a first step towards opening peace talks.
Earlier this week, Ms Kumaratunga was quoted as saying there were "several suspicious clauses" in the memorandum of understanding initiated by Norway.
However, Ms Kumaratunga's latest statement repeated the stance that she was still studying the truce deal and would give a detailed verdict later.
In 1999, the President invited Norway to be a third-party facilitator to help bring the Tamil Tigers to the peace negotiating table, but the process was suspended last year after she accused a peace envoy of siding with the Tigers.
28/02/2002 06:06:52 | ABC Radio Australia News
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