The co-chairs would discuss what had happened between the Tokyo donor conference and now at the meeting, which is described as a stocktaking meeting. The meeting would be attended strictly by the co-chairs and there would be no representatives either from the government or the LTTE. The Island sources revealed that the meeting of the four countries in Washington would be critical for Sri Lanka and it could mould the donor thinking, their programmes and the role to be played by the international community in Sri Lanka, in the future considering the current political developments in the country.

In the recent weeks the international community has expressed its dissatisfaction on the developments in the country and on the current stalemate between the President and the Prime Minister and on the peace process. One diplomat told The Island " It is time Sri Lanka moves on before the country is pulled out of the radar screen. It is sad that the people are not getting what they are interested since the politicians are fighting to get more seats for their parties." He questioned " Does your politicians really care for your people?" The meeting in Washington comes in the wake of minister Moragoda's recent visit to Washington, Oslo and Brussels where he met with the co-chairs. Published: Fri Jan 16 14:13:50 EST 2004

President Chandrika Kumaratunga took over the Defence, Interior and Mass Communication ministries in November last year, citing security concerns.

Meanwhile several powerful nations such as the United States, Britain and several other European countries have expressed concern over the recent attacks on the Christian churches.

These attacks have been carried out by unidentified groups citing unethical religious conversations as the reason, an allegation vehemently denied by Archbishop Oswald Gomes who insists that the Catholic Church has no connection with unethical conversions. Published: Fri Jan 16 13:48:10 EST 2004

The Unity Alliance has said that Rauff Hakeem soon after the LTTE announcement assured that he would write a letter to the LTTE Leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran to verify the true situation of the MOU he signed with Prabhakaran in April 2002, but has failed to write the letter and has conveniently forgotten the issue.

"The SLMC has to seek an explanation as to why the LTTE political leader Thamilselvam made a statement last year that the MOU has been cancelled. Muslims were given hope when this agreement was signed. It was also termed a historic document, but now it appears to be something null and void," the party’s media spokesman A. Kalam said. Published: Fri Jan 16 13:16:11 EST 2004