Sri Lankan president 'lifts emergency'

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.

Nevielle Nanayakkara, who is in charge of printing government decrees and regulations, said Kumaratunga had cancelled the emergency, which officials yesterday had said would last for 10 days.

No one from the president’s office was immediately available to confirm the lifting of the emergency, and it was not clear exactly when the emergency order was ending.

Nanayakkara said the president’s office had sent new executive orders to expand the powers of the armed forces to respond to threats to the country’s law and order, but not to the extent allowed for in a state of emergency.

A state of emergency gives broad power to the military – which Kumaratunga controls – to make arrests, interrogate suspects and search houses at will. It also bans public gatherings, gives the president powers to make laws and allowed media censorship.

It was not immediately clear why Kumaratunga would lift the emergency so soon after announcing it.

But it coincided with the return this morning of her political rival, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, to Colombo from a trip to the US.

Kumaratunga, who has broad constitutional powers, fired three of Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet colleagues and suspended Parliament on Tuesday and stationed additional armed military men around the capital. She announced on Wednesday that she was imposing emergency rule.

Kumaratunga accuses Wickremesinghe of appeasing Tamil Tiger rebels in his efforts to find a lasting solution to the country’s 20-year-long conflict with the guerrilla group. The prime minister has vowed to continue his efforts to forge a peace deal.