New Delhi
06 Mar 2004 13:04 UTC
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, said Saturday that the dissident rebel leader popularly known as Karuna is being expelled because he is a "traitor to the Tamil people."
Mr. Thamiselvan said a new commander had been named for the eastern forces. However, the Associated Press later quoted an aide to Mr. Karuna as saying Mr. Karuna would not relinquish his command.
Earlier this week, Mr. Karuna said he would head his own faction in rebel-controlled areas in the eastern part of the country, and he sought a separate ceasefire agreement with the government.
Mr. Thamilselvan said rebel cadres in the east continue to remain loyal to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose own headquarters are in the north.
The LTTE says the dispute will not disrupt the peace process or the two-year-old cease-fire. But a political analyst in Colombo, Kethesh Loganathan of the Center for Policy Alternatives, says the internal revolt could set back efforts to negotiate a lasting peace between the guerrillas and the government.
"The LTTE is a key actor in the peace process, and any major instability within the LTTE does create complications. The ceasefire agreement does not provide for any other actor to come into the scene," he said.
Until this revolt, Mr. Prabhakaran had led the LTTE unchallenged since 1983, when the group launched an armed struggle for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's minority Tamil community.
The fighting came to a halt with a cease-fire agreement two years ago, but peace negotiations were recently thrown into disarray by deep differences among the country's top political leaders on how much to concede to the rebels.
The rebels have continued to honor the cease-fire agreement despite the political turmoil in the capital, but they say it has placed peace negotiations in jeopardy.
It is feared that this new rivalry within the LTTE could bring the peace process under further pressure.
E-mail This Article To A Friend
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have expelled a prominent commander who broke away from the main rebel force and appointed a new man in his place, but the group appears to be facing a deepening crisis, with the commander reportedly refusing to relinquish control. The dispute among the guerrillas has fueled concerns for the country's fragile peace process.
Adaptive intelligence for a serious advantage: business, investment and technology- BizVantage!
Try the free, no-hassle 6 month trial!
The announcement came at a tightly-guarded press conference in the northern town of Kilinochchi, addressed by the leader of the LTTE's political wing, S.P. Thamilselvan.
