Wednesday, April 20 2005 20:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Sri Lanka's coalition Government was staring in the face of a crisis today (Apr 20, 2005) with its key ally Marxist party threatening to withdraw support if it struck a deal with Tamil Tigers to distribute foreign tsunami aid.

"It (joint distribution of foreign aid) could be done under a different Government, but not as long as our Freedom Alliance Government is in power," Marxist JVP party Legislator Wimal Weerawansa told the Sinhalese language 'Lankadeepa' daily.

The Marxist JVP, or People's Liberation Front, which has 39 Legislators in the 225-member Parliament, said they were opposed to the "joint mechanism" that peace broker Norway has been trying to secure.

The JVP had repeatedly warned President Chandrika Kumaratunga that they will pull out of Government if she went ahead with the joint mechanism deal. The latest warning came as Tigers and the Government were close to clinching a pact.

Norway's special envoy Erik Solheim held talks with Tamil Tiger today in a fresh bid to revive a faltering peace process by first getting a deal on tsunami aid, diplomats said.

Solheim held talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political wing leader S P Thamilselvan on the proposed deal, but discussions ended without a breakthrough.

"There is no new development," a diplomatic source close to the peace process said.

"Solheim is meeting the Prime Minister later in the day."

Solheim told reporters over the weekend that he was optimistic of brokering a deal between the Government and the Tiger rebels to jointly handle tsunami aid.

Kumaratunga in her traditional new year message last week said that the "joint mechanism" will be the foundation for a final peace deal with the Tigers and the Government.