COLOMBO, Jan. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Sri Lankan government said Monday that it was concerned over the formation of a political alliance by two main forces in the opposition as it posed a threat to the ongoing peace process with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

    G.L. Peiris, the government spokesman and Minister of Constitutional Affairs told reporters that there were four elements of concern on the Memorandum of Understanding entered between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the leftist JVP or People's Liberation Front on Tuesday.

    JVP and SLFP forged an alliance on Tuesday last week with the objective of toppling the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

    Peiris said the documents signed between the two parties had cast doubts on the Norwegian-backed ceasefire agreement.

    "We are concerned on the doubts cast on the legality and the validity of the ceasefire agreement ," Peiris said, adding that there was lack of clarity in the alliance agreement with regard tothe essential feature of solving the ethnic conflict through a political solution.

    The government spokesman said the opposition alliance was not responsive to an interim power sharing plan put forward by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels late October last year.

    "We want to emphasize that the stability of the present situation depend principally on the ceasefire agreement," Peiris stressed.

    The government of Wickremesinghe has maintained the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE rebels since February 2002.

    Since Kumaratunga's seizure of three key ministries including the defense from Wickremesinghe government early November last year, the prime minister said he was unable to carry forward the peace process.

    Peiris said that the SLFP-JVP deal had also raised question marks on the role of the Norwegian peace facilitators.

    It was Kumaratunga who had invited the Norwegians to mediate inthe armed ethnic conflict that had claimed over 64,000 lives since1983.

    The Norwegian facilitators suspended their role as facilitators10 days after the president's action early November last year.

    Peace talks have been on hold since April last year when the LTTE rebels pulled out of the peace process following six previousrounds which started in September 2002. Enditem