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Sri Lankan opposition leader launches campaign

"We cannot have a peaceful solution to the conflict unless the two main parties in the country unite and have a common position on the national question."

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan opposition leader

Sri Lanka's opposition leader launched his presidential election bid from this historic city yesterday urging unity among the deeply divided Sinhalese ahead of a peace deal with Tamil rebels.

Former premier Ranil Wick-remesinghe called on the island's influential Buddhist clergy to help unite the majority Sinhalese community, who mainly follow Buddhism.

"We cannot have a peaceful solution to the conflict unless the two main parties in the country unite and have a common position on the national question," Wickremesinghe, himself from the Sinhalese-Buddhist community, said.

He urged the two main sects -- Malwatte and Asgiriya -- here in Kandy, 112km east of the capital Colombo, to bring about unity with his United National Party and the rival Freedom Alliance.

Both Wickremesinghe and his rival contender, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, also a Sinhalese Buddhist, worshipped Friday at Kandy's Temple of the Tooth, one of the holiest Buddhist shrines, shortly after filing their election nomination papers in Colombo.

They met the top Buddhist leaders separately and sought blessings of the monks in two separate ceremonies. The monks blessed both and urged them to work together for peace.

Wickremesinghe has vowed to revive peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels while Rajapakse has prom-ised to overhaul the Norwegian-backed peace initiative if elected at the Nov. 17 vote.

Buddhist monk Narampanawe Ananda said a peaceful solution had to be acceptable to all to end three decades of ethnic bloodshed which has claimed over 60,000 lives.

"Ending the conflict is the main challenge before the next president," Ananda told reporters.

Wickremesinghe, who as prime minister in 2002 entered into a truce with Tamil Tigers, has received support from the minority communities.

He visited a Hindu temple venerated by Tamils and also sought the blessings of Muslim and Christian clergy in Kandy, the island's capital till 1815 when Britain established colonial rule.

Rajapakse made the same tour late Friday and was due to formally launch his election campaign today.

"I can't carry forward the peace process without a consensus among the Sinhalese community," Wickremesinghe told reporters. "Even if we put forward a solution to the Tigers, they will not accept unless we can show that it has the backing of the Sinhalese majority."

Peace has emerged as a key issue at the poll with the international community mounting pressure on the Tigers as well as Colombo to resume peace talks, which have been deadlocked since April 2003.

Peace broker Norway is sending a special envoy to the island tomorrow to talk to Colombo and the rebels separately.
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