Chandrika rules out snap polls

Norway's deputy foreign minister, Vidar Helgesen, was slated to arrive Monday for a five-day visit to talk with Sri Lankan leaders on the peace process, the Norwegian embassy said in a statement.

It gave no details, but diplomatic sources said Oslo was trying to revive the moribund process even as the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attempt to thrash out a tsunami aid sharing deal.

President Chandrika Kumarat-unga's determination to push through the deal saw a key Marxist ally quitting on Thursday, leaving her 14-month-old government reduced to a minority.

Helgesen was due to meet with Kumaratunga as well as the leadership of the LTTE, the diplomatic sources said.

Kumaratunga is adamant her government will not collapse despite the withdrawal of the Marxist JVP, or People's Liberation Front.

"The government is unshaken," she said in her first reaction to the JVP withdrawal. "There is no instability. We will be short of 20 or 30 votes in parliament, but that will not be a problem to implement our policies."

She added: "The only election we will have is the presidential election, which is due in one and a half year's time."

Kumaratunga said the proposed "joint mechanism" with the rebels was the most equitable way of ensuring that foreign aid was delivered to people in rebel-held areas of the island's northeast.