Monday, May 16 2005 14:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kandy: Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga today (May 16, 2005) said that she feared for her life as her Government moved to enter into an aid-sharing deal with Tiger rebels despite Opposition from within the coalition partners.

"In the decisions we are called upon to take, the lives of some of us are in extreme danger," Kumaratunga said inaugurating a key international donor meeting, also attended by India, the US and Japan.

She said the threat to her could also come "from within", referring to extremists in the coalition. A majority of the nine-party ruling coalition supported her, she said.

Kumaratunga told the international donors that she was committed to entering into a pact with the rebels to distribute tsunami aid in the affected regions.

Her main Marxist ally, the JVP (Janatha Vimukti Peramuna), or People's Liberation Front is opposed to any deal with the Tigers.

Just as she finished her address, a nationalist Buddhist monk legislator of the Heritage Party who had been invited for the aid meet got up to deliver an unscheduled speech denouncing Kumaratunga's move.

Monk Athuraliya Ratana said they will use all democratic means to block Kumaratunga's plan to enter into a "Joint Mechanism" with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Kumaratunga received a memorandum from the monk, but minutes earlier she had made it clear that a vast majority of the population as well as a majority within the ruling coalition was with her.

At least 22 donor nations and key lending organisations are attending donor meet, partly organised by the World Bank but opposed by nationalists.