No progress in Sri Lankan talks

The president and prime minister are at odds

Sri Lanka's president and prime minister have agreed to meet again, after inconclusive talks to ease the country's constitutional crisis.

It was the two leaders' first meeting since the president fired top ministers and suspended parliament last week.

A joint statement from the leaders said the talks were "cordial and friendly".

The peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels remains on hold and the BBC's Sri Lanka correspondent says fresh elections are still likely.

Differences over peace process

Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe's spokesman said he had not discussed the president's suggestion for a cabinet of national unity which would include ministers from her party.

My principal concern is to protect and safeguard the peace process Ranil Wickramasinghe

Nor had he raised the issue of the defence, interior and information ministries which were taken over by President Chandrika Kumaratunga last week, the spokesman, Gayrika Perusinghe, said.

The talks had instead focused on the future of the peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels.

The president had discussed her fears for Sri Lanka's security and sovereignty, while the prime minister had repeated his request that she take the helm of the peace process, Mr Perusinghe said.

He said President Kumaratunga had yet to respond to this request.

Further talks between the two leaders, and ministers loyal to them, will probably take place next week, according to Mr Perusinghe.

Rebel talks

Meanwhile, Tamil Tiger rebels have confirmed that their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, will meet Norwegian envoys on Thursday.

Troops man Colombo's streets, amid doubts over the peace process

The visit by Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and special envoy Eric Solheim had been a routine one to organise the resumption of formal peace talks, but is now aimed at crisis management.

The Norwegian delegation met the prime minister on Tuesday, and Mrs Kumaratunga on Wednesday.

Mrs Kumaratunga, whose party became the official opposition after losing elections to Mr Wickramasinghe two years ago, has accused the government of yielding too much ground to the Tamil Tiger rebels.

She has also accused Oslo of overstepping its brief.

Mr Wickramasinghe had earlier said Mrs Kumaratunga should either hand back the three ministries she took, or take over responsibility for the peace process.

He says he does not believe a new government is necessary.

"In the circumstances I cannot see the need for a change of prime minister," he wrote in a letter to the president on Monday.

Tiger jailbreak

Shortly before the talks on Wednesday, police said four suspected Tamil Tiger rebels had escaped from a prison in the eastern city of Trincomalee.

The authorities said the escapees appear to have had accomplices both inside and outside the prison.

The police say one prison guard was threatened with a revolver and the padlocks to a couple of cells were found lying around after the escape.

Mrs Kumaratunga narrowly survived a Tamil Tiger assassination attempt in 1999 and has repeatedly criticised what she says are government concessions to them.

More than 60,000 people have died in violence in Sri Lanka since the Tigers launched their fight for a homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east in 1983.