UNP says more than 45,000 soldiers have deserted the forces

Former military spokesman Maj. Gen. Sarath Munasinghe said the soldiers fled the battlefield within three days of the ‘Jayasikurui’ operation in Mankulam and Oddusudan.

"I remember, On Nov. 01, 1999, soldiers have fled the battlefield leaving all their valuable belongings," Munasinghe, currently a leader of the opposition United National Party (UNP), told journalists in Colombo.

Federal solution

Addressing a media conference in support of main opposition candidate Ranil Wickramasinghe, Gen. Munasinghe said there was no clear winner from two-decades of civil war.

	Former chief negotiator appeared before media after a long silence

He added that more than 45,000 soldiers have deserted Sri Lanka armed forces during the civil war.

Appearing before media after a long silence, former chief peace negotiator Prof. GL Peiris said the UNP was successful in changing the separatist hard-line adopted by the Tamil Tigers.

He said the LTTE softened their demand to a federal state as a result of UNP-led government’s diplomacy.

The UNP claimed that the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) also admitted that Sri Lankan economy showed a rapid development as a result of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed with the Tamil Tigers.

There is no middle way for Sri Lanka, prof. Peiris said, than either war or peace.