COLOMBO -- There are growing fears that the recent political turmoil in Sri Lanka will seriously hamper the internationally supported effort to end the two decades of ethnic strife between the majority Buddhist Sinhalese and the minority Hindu Tamils.
In Sri Lanka, the president and prime minister belong to rival political parties. Recently President Chandrika Kumaratunga recently sacked many ministers in Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's caretaker Cabinet.
This climate of uncertainty has led the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to request that foreign aid be given directly to war-ravaged Tamil areas rather than through government machinery.