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by Ananth Palakidnar

Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando fully endorsing the letter sent by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga urging her to be cautious in her intervention with the Prime Minister of Norway said that in future, the President should consult him as the Minister of Foreign Affairs when she deals with matters related to external affairs.

Minister Fernando told the Sunday Observer, that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga being the head of state should act more cautiously and wisely when issues come up with regard to external affairs. "Now that the peace process is on without any serious obstacles, and with Norwegian Government is playing a very vital role as a facilitator to bring an end to the ethnic issue which had ruined the entire country for the past two decades.

Therefore we should not antagonise the external forces which show genuine interest in solving our problem. The President should have consulted the Foreign Ministry before she intervened with the Norwegian Government on the issue over the supply of electronic transmission equipment to the LTTE. We are going through a very crucial period and we should coordinate with each other to strengthen the peace process," he said.

Earlier Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his lengthy letter to the President had said: "As a Government, we should exercise due care, at this critical stage in the peace process, to ensure that the enthusiasm of the Norwegian facilitation and the momentum thus far generated continues undiminished."

However Presidential spokesman Janadasa Peiris rejected the Minister's comment saying that as the head of state, it is the President who deals with foreign governments directly as she is the one who accepts the credentials of the envoys posted to Sri Lanka. Therefore, she has every right to act on her own with regard to the issues related to external affairs.

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