Lanka govt under fire for aid sharing plan with Tigers

The Marxist JVP told reporters it would block any attempt by President Chandrika Kumaratunga to enter into a "joint mechanism" with the separatists to distribute foreign aid to survivors of the December 26 tsunami disaster.

"We will leave the government on the 16th of June if the president does not withdraw the joint mechanism plan with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the end of the 15th," JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said.

International donors have called for Colombo and the rebels to jointly disburse billions of dollars in tsunami aid, but critics fear this will help legitimise the rebels' separatist campaign.

Police on Friday fired teargas and used water cannons to douse Buddhist monks who also oppose the aid-sharing proposal and threatened self-immolation outside Kumaratunga's tightly-guarded residence here, witnesses said.

Teargas canisters fell outside the deluxe Hilton hotel in the heart of the financial district of Colombo. At least two of the demonstrating monks were wounded in the police action, the witnesses said.

"We will not go empty handed," a monk said over a public address system minutes before he and his group were forced to flee.

Saffron-robed monks of the hard-line National Heritage Party vowed self-immolation, a threat widely used but not carried out in Sri Lanka in living memory.

Anti-riot squads and heavily armed police and troops were seen behind barbed wire barricades while a small group of protestors were allowed into the high-security compound for talks with Kumaratunga's aides.

The Heritage Party monks appeared to be in competition with the JVP in opposing the controversial aid sharing deal.

Another group of monks backing the Marxists took to the streets for a separate protest shortly after the JVP issued its threat to quit the government on June 16.