Colombo, Sri Lanka
The president of Sri Lanka suspended Parliament this week and fired three powerful Cabinet ministers while the prime minister was off visiting the United States. President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is a member of the opposition party, said she was concerned that the government was being too soft on the Tamil Tigers, the rebel group that has terrorized Sri Lanka for decades. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in Washington to brief President Bush on Sri Lanka’s fight against terrorism, said he would not allow the president to endanger the peace process he has been nurturing with the Tamils. Kumaratunga’s “irresponsible and precipitous” action, the prime minister said, was “aimed at plunging the country into chaos and anarchy.” It’s unclear what Wickremisinghe will be able to do, though, since the president is the head of the army and was acting within her authority.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Olympic timekeepers keeping the Games on trackUnder the Radar Swiss watchmaking giant Omega has been at the finish line of every Olympic Games for nearly 100 years
-
Will increasing tensions with Iran boil over into war?Today’s Big Question President Donald Trump has recently been threatening the country
-
Corruption: The spy sheikh and the presidentFeature Trump is at the center of another scandal
