SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT'S MAIN ALLY QUITS THE RULING COALITION OVER PLANS TO SHARE TSUNAMI AID WITH TAMIL TIGER REBELS
Record ID:
648503
SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT'S MAIN ALLY QUITS THE RULING COALITION OVER PLANS TO SHARE TSUNAMI AID WITH TAMIL TIGER REBELS
- Title: SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT'S MAIN ALLY QUITS THE RULING COALITION OVER PLANS TO SHARE TSUNAMI AID WITH TAMIL TIGER REBELS
- Date: 17th June 2005
- Summary: (W2)COLOMBO,SRI LANKA (JUNE 16, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR SET OF VENUE FOR NEWS CONFERENCE 0.04 2. MV JVP LEADERS ARRIVE 0.09 3. SCU JVP LEADER SOMAWANSA AMARASINGHE ARRIVES 0.17 4. SET UP OF NEWS CONFERENCE 5. MEDIA 0.25 6. (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) AMARASINGHE SAYING: "The deadline we gave the government to withdraw from the joint mechanism ended at midnight last night.We are announcing now that we are withdrawing from the alliance. We express our regret for work that has not been completed.We are leaving the alliance because the country has to be safeguarded." 0.56 7. MEDIA 1.03 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) AMARASINGHE SAYING: "We will take all steps to safeguard the country's sovereignty, its freedom and democracy. We are ready to get together with any party that works for the goodwill of the people." 1.31 9. MEDIA 1.36 10. SLV STREET SCENES OF CAPITAL COLOMBO (3 SHOTS) 1.57 11. SET UP OF LOTTERY SELLER 2.03 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) SUNIL JAYASINGHE SAYING: "I don't agree with their decision.They should have stayed in the government." 2.15 13. STREET SCENES 2.27 14. (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) VICTOR RAJ SAYING: "I don't agree with their decision. There must be peace in the country. The country has suffered fo so long. All the political parties must get together to develop the country." 2.44 15. VICTOR RAJ GETS INTO THE TAXI 2.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd July 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
- Country: Sri Lanka
- Reuters ID: LVAE56G1445EEJ6OY6CHONVGBWB9
- Story Text: The Sri Lankan government's main ally quit the
ruling coalition over plans to share tsunami aid with Tamil
Tiger rebels.
The Sri Lankan government's main ally quit the
ruling coalition on Thursday (June 15, 2005), angry at plans to
share tsunami aid with Tamil Tiger rebels, reducing the
alliance to a hamstrung minority seen limping on for now.
The exit of the Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP)
seriously weakens President Chandrika Kumaratunga's
government and means it will struggle to legislate but the
main opposition has vowed not to oust it yet.
The hardline nationalist JVP, which regards the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as terrorists who
do not deserve aid, crossed over to the opposition after a
midnight deadline for Kumaratunga to ditch the aid-sharing
plan passed unheeded.
"The deadline we gave the government to withdraw from
the joint mechanism ended at midnight last night.We are
announcing now that we are withdrawing from the alliance.
We express our regret for work that has not been
completed.We are leaving the alliance because
the country has to be safeguarded," JVP leader Somawansa
Amarasinghe told a news conference.
Top government aides say the aid pact, under which
committees comprising rebels, government officials and
Muslims can recommend, prioritise and monitor projects
funded by $3 billion in pledged foreign aid, will be
sealed in days.
Kumaratunga plans to present the aid pact to
parliament, a top government aide said, possibly as early
as next week. But before that, parliament will have to rearrange
its seating plan. The government now has just 81 seats in the
225-seat legislature, and there is now not enough space on
the opposition benches, Amarasinghe said.
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) has
allayed fears of a total government collapse or snap
elections, saying it will not topple the government over
the aid-sharing issue. But it wants a presidential election
by the year-end.
A vote of no-confidence would need the backing of the
UNP as well as that of the Marxists, and analysts say
neither is ready to face either general or presidential
elections yet.
Protests by the JVP and hardline Buddhist monks who
want the Tigers crushed are expected to escalate.
Police have resorted to tear gas and water cannon twice
in the past week to disperse furious saffron-robed monks.
The general public is increasingly disillusioned with
what they see as petty, parochial politics that ultimately
hit the country's poorest the hardest.
" I don't agree with their decision.They should have
stayed in the government" Said Sunil Jayasinghe, a 29 year
old lottery seller
"I don't agree with their decision. There must be
peace in the country. The country has suffered fo so long.
All the political parties must get together to develop the
country"
said Victor Raj, a government servant.
Squabbling among parties has already stalled wider
efforts to convert a 2002 ceasefire between the LTTE and
the government into a final end to a civil war that killed
over 64,000 people.
Political infighting also threatens economic stability.
Without its slim working majority, the government will
be hard pushed to implement long overdue privatisation,
taxation and energy reforms, worrying investors -- though
local financial markets would welcome an eventual return to
power of the UNP.
Analysts say a minority government could survive until
the next budget is due in November, and possibly beyond.
However, Kumaratunga could eventually be left with
little choice but to call an election at a time when tens
of thousands of survivors of the tsunami, which killed or
left missing
nearly 40,000 people along the island's shores, are living
in shacks and tents.
International donors are hoping the aid deal will serve
as a platform to jumpstart peace talks with the Tamil
rebels stalled since 2003, and have called on the
government to sign
it immediately.
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