November 6, 2003	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1424

WASHINGTON, Nov 5: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met US President George Bush on Wednesday, and pledged to sort out the political strife gripping Colombo when he flies home to confront his rival, President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

With Sri Lanka facing a state of emergency ordered by Kumaratunga after she unleashed the constitutional crisis in his absence, Wickremesinghe played down the turmoil.

“This is not the first crisis I have had,” he told reporters in the fir-shaded calm of the White House grounds after emerging from the Oval Office.

“When I go back, I’ll sort it out. We have a majority in parliament. I have a mandate to bring peace to the country.”

Wickremesinghe said Bush asked him about developments in Sri Lanka, thrown into turmoil on Tuesday when the president sacked three key cabinet ministers, suspended parliament and deployed troops around key installations.

Asked about his conversation with Bush, Wickremesinghe said he had told him, “Things were quite all right when I left.”

The crisis fomented in the premier’s absence has dented hopes of a prompt resumption of the government’s dialogue with Tamil Tiger rebels aimed at ending a civil war which has claimed 60,000 lives, and endangered an economic recovery, after stocks in Colombo slumped a record 15 percent on Tuesday.

It also placed the United States, keen not to take sides in a domestic political crisis, in a delicate position, despite its support for Wickremesinghe’s moves to engage the Tigers, which Kumaratunga says have gone too far.—AFP