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Chandrika sets Dec 15 deadline to end crisis

People's Alliance ready to forget acrimony

AP, AFP, Colombo
President Chandrika Kumaratunga announced yesterday that she was setting a December 15 deadline to resolve a standoff with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe that threatens efforts to end the country's 20-year civil war.
Kumaratunga moved earlier this month to curtail Wickremesinghe's power, taking control of three top ministries and suspending Parliament after accusing the premier of granting too many concessions to the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Friday's announcement comes a day after Wickremesinghe's government said it was willing to give Kumaratunga a broader role in the negotiations to find a
lasting resolution to the civil war. The two leaders so far have held two meetings to resolve their dispute.
"The President says she is willing to forget the past and start anew, but she wants the talks to find a solution by Decmber 15," Kumaratunga's spokesman, Sarath Amunugama, said.
Amunugama declined to say what steps Kumaratunga would take if a resolution to the crisis is not reached by the deadline.
Wickremesinghe runs the day-today affairs of government, but Kumaratunga controls the military and has the power to sack the government and call new elections.
Norwegian-mediated talks to end the civil war have been suspended since
April, and the current political turmoil has stalled efforts to coax the rebels back to the bargaining table.
The Norwegians have said they would stay on the sidelines until Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe resolve their differences.
AFP adds: The Sri Lankan president's party said Friday it was ready to end its power struggle with the prime minister and attempt a fresh deal on governing together within three weeks.
President Chandrika Kumar-atunga's spokesman Sarath Amunugama said the People's Alliance was prepared to forget the acrimony with the premier, which had led Norway to suspend efforts to broker an end to the island's ethnic war.
"What has happened in the past has happened," Amunugama told reporters here. "If we are going to cohabit, we have to forget the past."
He said a panel appointed by the two squabbling leaders earlier this week to work out a fresh cohabitation arrangement was expected to finalise a report by December 15.
The remarks came a day after Prime Minister Ranil Wickre-mesinghe ' s government offered its own olive branch to Kumaratunga.
Government spokesman G.L. Peiris said the prime minister was prepared to forget his differences with the president so that the pair could together mend the economy and put the peace process back on track.