Norwegian envoys who are trying to help broker Sri Lanka’s peace with its Tamil Tiger rebels headed for the island nation today while its president and prime minister remained locked in a power struggle that has thrown uncertainty on the peace process.

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga is lifting the state of emergency she announced two days ago, a government spokesman said today, but she was preparing a new measure to boost the authority of the armed forces to respond to threats.

Sri Lanka’s Cabinet is trying to reconvene Parliament in defiance of a two-week suspension by the president in her power struggle with the prime minister over how to resolve Sri Lanka’s two-decade conflict with Tamil rebels, officials said.

SRI LANKA’S president has declared a state of emergency, deepening the country’s political crisis as her political rival was set to meet with US President George W Bush in Washington.

SRI LANKA’S president sacked three of the country’s most powerful cabinet ministers yesterday, suspended parliament and ordered troops out in the streets of Colombo, throwing the island into a constitutional crisis.

Sri Lanka’s government was plunged into crisis and its peace process jeopardised when the country’s president deployed troops around the capital and fired three key ministers who were trying to coax Tamil rebels back into talks to end a 20-year civil war.

The Sri Lankan government has lifted a ban on the Tamil Tiger rebels, paving the way for peace talks to end the island nation’s 19-year civil war.

Rival politicians have brawled on the floor of the Sri Lankan Parliament amid bizarre claims that the president had carried a bomb into a cabinet meeting.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wikremesinghe has ruled out dividing his country into two separate states, despite signing a ceasefire agreement with the Tamil Tiger rebels last Friday.

The Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels have signed a permanent ceasefire as a crucial step toward end their 18 year civil war.

Officials in Sri Lanka have said a peace deal between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels could be signed within two days, despite a sea battle today which left three sailors dead.

Sri Lanka’s Government has said it will co-operate with a Christmas ceasefire announced by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam earlier this week.