Sri Lanka's prime minister and president have met for the first time since their power struggle erupted into a political crisis.
It was their first meeting since President Chandrika Kumaratunga sacked three ministers and suspended parliament last week, while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on a trip to Washington.
Mr Wickremesinghe's bulletproof motorcade was seen driving into the President's House in central Colombo early today.
The residence was off limits to the media.
Mrs Kumaratunga, who is elected separately from the prime minister, sacked the ministers and suspended parliament until November 19th because she felt Mr Wickremesinghe was compromising security by making too many concessions to the rebels.
She followed that up with an offer to form a "national unity government". Wickremesinghe countered that she had to reinstate the ministers or take over herself the task of hammering out a peace after a two-decade war that has killed 64,000 people and pummelled the economy.
Their showdown comes as Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and peace envoy Mr Erik Solheim were in town to try to arrange preliminary talks before the government and Tamil Tigers resume negotiations to end the 20-year civil war.