In a letter to Sirisena, Ms. Kumaratunga claimed that although she had made repeated requests to him to convene a meeting for her to meet with all SLFP local Government Candidates, a request he had failed to heed to. "But no sooner President Rajapakse made this request to you, a meeting was immediately convened at the Presidential Secretariat, and neither was I invited nor informed about the proceedings of this meting," she said in her letter.

"What authenticity do you have to convene such a meeting even going to the extent of bypassing me, who is the leader of the party," she queried.

She also expressed her displeasure over a decision taken sans her knowledge to convene another conference comprising all SLFP members and other local Government candidates at the Sugathadasa Indoor stadium today once again without even considering her or consulting her on the matter.

"At the last minute I was sent an invitation to attend this meeting, which is highly unethical as I am the President of this party," She pointed out. She added that both President Rajapakse and Maithripal Sirisena has violated the SLFP rules, by bypassing the leader of the party and taking decisions according to their fancies.

Discuss this story Published: Wed Mar 1 12:56:55 EST 2006

The main opposition is demanding that the government makes public the amendments it is reported to have made to the existing CFA.

The United National Party (UNP) joined the dispute whether the CFA had been amended, after the rebels denied that the original agreement signed in February 2002 was amended. More...

Discuss this story Published: Wed Mar 1 20:21:54 EST 2006

``This release is part of a process taken up by us to ensure that underage youths who voluntarily join the LTTE are sent back to their parents,'' Daya Master told The Associated Press by phone from Kilinochchi, a stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Master said the children were handed over to their parents at a ceremony in the rebel-held area on Tuesday after a three-member committee had singled out members from the group who are under age.

``Now we have evolved a system under which we take down details from parents who believe their children are with us,'' Master said.

The rebels, who are fighting to carve out a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamil minority, are often accused of recruiting child soldiers for their war against the government.

According to UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, 5,368 child recruitment cases by the rebels have been reported since 2002, the year when the government and the Tigers agreed to a Norway-brokered cease-fire.

One year later, the Tigers agreed with UNICEF and the Sri Lankan government to release all child soldiers to a rehabilitation center, where they were to be given counseling and vocational training to help them re-enter society.

The rebels say they have released thousands of child soldiers since then, but no total figure is available.

Rebel and government negotiators met in Geneva, Switzerland at the end of February _ the first direct talks between the two sides in three years _ and agreed to meet again April 19-21, again in Geneva, to salvage their tattered cease-fire.

Discuss this story Published: Wed Mar 1 01:16:42 EST 2006