Rathnasiri quits panel appointed for talks with TNA

Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, a senior minister in the Rajapaksa government and a former Prime Minister, has quit the government delegation now in talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Wickramanayake said he could not continue to talk to the TNA after it had endorsed the report of the UN panel on war crimes in Sri Lanka, a report totally rejected by the Rajapaksa government for being biased in favour of the LTTE.

The government, which wants to continue to talk to the TNA has immediately appointed Dr Rajiva Wijesinha in place of Wickramanayake, TNA Spokesman Suresh Premachandran told Ada Derana. Premachandran said that the TNA was officially informed of the resignation by the Government.

Wijesinha is a former secretary general of the government peace secretariat, and was secretary to the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Human Rights.