COLOMBO, Feb 8: Sri Lanka's fragile peace bid and reconstruction from war were plunged into uncertainty on Sunday after the president sacked parliament and called elections nearly four years ahead of schedule.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga dissolved the legislature and set April 2 polls on Saturday after months of wrangling with the prime minister over how to end ethnic strife that has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.

Her calling of the third parliamentary election since 2000 came despite international pressure on her to compromise with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The two are from different parties and were elected separately in bloody campaigns that have become a trademark of Sri Lankan elections. Wickremesinghe's party on Sunday asked elections chief Dayananda Dissanayake to invite foreign poll observers in a bid to minimise violence.

The island's foreign aid donors, including the United States, Japan, the European Union and neighbouring India, had been against a snap election, which they believe could further undermine the peace process.

Peace broker Norway already suspended its mediation in November after Kumaratunga took the control of three key ministries away from Wickremesinghe. The prime minister revived talks with Tamil Tigers soon after winning the last election in December 2001, which was preceded by a five-week campaign in which at least 41 people died in political clashes.

Diplomats said the new instability could hold up 4.5 billion dollars pledged to rebuild the island, as donors linked the money to progress in the peace process.

Tamil legislators said the crisis may not be resolved even after the election. "We can expect a lot of turmoil," Tamil MP Dharmalingam Sidhathan said.

"Even if the present UNP (United National Party government of Wickremesinghe) comes back to power, they will still have the same president and we will be back to square one."

He said if Kumaratunga's party won the legislature, it would have to contend with serious differences with its new leftist ally, the JVP, or People's Liberation Front, which opposes autonomy for the Tamil minority.

There was no immediate reaction to the early polls from the Tamil Tigers, but the rebels had stayed away from a crucial meeting on Friday with Scandinavian monitors to review a February 2002 ceasefire.

A pro-rebel Tamil legislator, R. Sampanthan, said the political crisis between the two leaders from the majority Sinhalese community showed they were not genuinely interested in addressing Tamil grievances.

Diplomats said they were puzzled by Kumaratunga's appointment of two members of her party, which is in opposition in parliament, into the cabinet, just before dissolving the legislature.

A member of Kumaratunga's party, Maithripala Sirisena, told a rally on Sunday that the president could sack some ministers shortly, but gave no further details.

With no parliament, the ministers will act in a caretaker capacity. But Kumaratunga can still dismiss ministers and redistribute their portfolios to her favourites within the cabinet.

Wickremesinghe cancelled a scheduled official visit to Thailand from Monday, adding he had not been informed beforehand about Kumaratunga's appointment of her party members to the cabinet.

Wickremesinghe came to power promising peace and economic growth and his government held six rounds of talks with the Tamil Tigers, who said for the first time they were not necessarily seeking a separate nation.

The rebels suspended talks in April saying the government had not fulfilled its promises but on November 1 publicly unveiled their first ever blueprint for peace that would turn Sri Lanka into a de facto federal state. -AFP