03-03-2004, 08:04 PM
'Tamil Tiger splits spark crisis'
<b>By Frances Harrison
BBC correspondent in Colombo </b>
Norwegian diplomats say the Sri Lankan prime minister has had an emergency meeting to discuss reports of a rift between Tamil Tiger rebels. Peace envoy Erik Solheim said there was a crisis but refused to elaborate.
Speaking from Oslo, Mr Solheim acknowledged there was what he called a new situation in eastern Sri Lanka but he would not say anything more. The Norwegian ambassador and the head of the ceasefire monitoring group held a late night meeting with the PM.
<b>Why now?</b>
The talks were to discuss reports of disagreements between a senior rebel military leader in the east of the island and the Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Unofficially the Tigers in the east are saying their regional commander, Karuna, refused to send 1,000 rebels to the north of the island as requested by the Tiger chief.
There are grievances about the fact that the majority of the Tiger fighting cadres come from eastern Sri Lanka and yet the leadership is dominated by Tamils from the north. But these are long-standing issues and it is not clear why they should erupt just now as the Tigers are indirectly involved in campaigning for elections next month.
Also it is hard to image that Karuna, who is involved in peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, would defy Mr Prabhakaran, especially as he is known to be close to him. Such defiance would plunge the rebel movement into its worst crisis for a decade and put Karuna's life in grave danger.
<b>By Frances Harrison
BBC correspondent in Colombo </b>
Norwegian diplomats say the Sri Lankan prime minister has had an emergency meeting to discuss reports of a rift between Tamil Tiger rebels. Peace envoy Erik Solheim said there was a crisis but refused to elaborate.
Speaking from Oslo, Mr Solheim acknowledged there was what he called a new situation in eastern Sri Lanka but he would not say anything more. The Norwegian ambassador and the head of the ceasefire monitoring group held a late night meeting with the PM.
<b>Why now?</b>
The talks were to discuss reports of disagreements between a senior rebel military leader in the east of the island and the Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Unofficially the Tigers in the east are saying their regional commander, Karuna, refused to send 1,000 rebels to the north of the island as requested by the Tiger chief.
There are grievances about the fact that the majority of the Tiger fighting cadres come from eastern Sri Lanka and yet the leadership is dominated by Tamils from the north. But these are long-standing issues and it is not clear why they should erupt just now as the Tigers are indirectly involved in campaigning for elections next month.
Also it is hard to image that Karuna, who is involved in peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, would defy Mr Prabhakaran, especially as he is known to be close to him. Such defiance would plunge the rebel movement into its worst crisis for a decade and put Karuna's life in grave danger.
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