Sri Lanka's president on Monday appointed veteran politician Mahinda Rajapakse as prime minister. Rajapakse, 58, who will take the oath of office on Tuesday to become this country's 13th prime minister since winning independence from Britain in 1948. The incoming prime minister had led President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party in Parliament when it was in the opposition. "Rajapakse is a moderate person. He is one of the few liberals within the party," said Jehan Perera, a political analyst at the National Peace Council, an independent research institute. "He is very approachable to a wide spectrum of the people," Perera said. On Tuesday, Rajapakse said India should play an immediate role in the peace process. "We want India involved as soon as possible," he said.
| That worked so well last time. |
Kumaratunga's alliance emerged just eight seats short of an absolute majority in Parliament in Friday's snap elections. An official at the presidential secretariat said Kumaratunga's United Peoples Freedom Alliance, which secured 105 seats in the 225-member Parliament, was holding talks with smaller parties and considered a ruling coalition a certainty. Outgoing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had initiated the most recent attempts to make peace with the Tamil Tiger rebels. Wickremesinghe's peace plan was a major factor in a bitter feud with Kumaratunga, who has taken a tough stance toward the rebels and accused Wickremesinghe of giving them too many concessions. It wasn't immediately clear how Rajapakse's appointment would affect the fragile truce with the Tamil Tigers, or future negotiations with them. Rajapakse is an ethnic Sinhalese, but is credited with having a non-controversial past. The rebels said on Monday they hoped a political solution could be found to their demands for everything they want sweeping autonomy. If not, "the Tamil people will fight to establish the Tamil sovereignty in their homeland," the pro-rebel TamilNet Web site said.
| "Their homeland," of course, being a significant chunk of the 2500-year-old Sri Lankan homeland... |
While the Tigers have said they would negotiate with whichever political party emerged on top, the president has made no secret of her distrust for them. For the Tigers, divided since the March defection of a powerful guerrilla commander, negotiations would be highly complicated. The renegade commander took with him some 6,000 guerrillas from the 15,000-strong rebel army. Although the cease-fire has held for two years, the main Tiger leadership has warned the government not to negotiate with the breakaway faction.
| "We wuz the legit ones! He's a pretender! Don't you go talkin' wif him!" |
|