Sri Lanka president calls for talks

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said negotiations are the only way to jumpstart a stalled peace process.

President Kumaratunga views the independence day celebrations

She was speaking during independence day celebrations in the capital, Colombo.

Members of the minority Tamil community in the north raised black flags in protest at the celebrations.

The peace process has been undermined by a power struggle between the president and Prime Minister.

Correspondents say speculation has increased that snap polls may be the only way out of the stalemate.

Military display

Ms Kumaratunga said all political forces should be united in an effort to find solutions to Sri Lanka's problems.

"I know fully well that no one wants to resume war," she said.

"This shows that all communities and people with different shades of political opinion consider that this problem should be resolved without recourse to war."

During the celebrations held in Colombo's Independence Square, the military displayed multi-barrel rocket launchers and heavy artillery guns.

It was the first such parade of weaponry in six years.

But a military spokesman said the display was not meant to intimidate the Tamil Tiger rebels.

'Day of mourning'

In the northern town of Jaffna, residents were said to have put up black flags to observe a day of mourning.

"Shops are closed, transport is off the roads and black flags have come up at offices, homes and shops," the AFP news agency quoted a Jaffna resident as saying.

Prime Minister Wickramasinghe and President Kumaratunga are bitterly divided over who should control the crucial defence ministry, which the president took away from the premier last November.

Mr Wickramasinghe has argued that he cannot run the country's peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels without the defence portfolio.

The BBC's Frances Harrison says the stalemate could lead to fresh parliamentary elections against the wishes of many in the business community and some diplomats who fear another poll - the third in four years - would be costly and violent.