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'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 B C யால் யாழ் களத்தில் செய்தி திரிவு படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது வேதனை தருகிறது.

Sri Lankan rebels 'deny split'

By Frances Harrison
BBC correspondent in Colombo


Any split could complicate forthcoming elections
A pro-rebel website in Sri Lanka has run a story denying there is any major split in the Tamil Tiger rebel group.
A spokesman quoted the senior rebel commander in the east, Colonel Karuna, as saying he would take orders in the future directly from the Tiger leader.

There had been reports of a rift between Colonel Karuna and the Tiger chief in northern Sri Lanka.

The news comes as Norwegian mediators and the Sri Lankan prime minister held emergency talks about the reports.


Legitimacy hope

It is not clear why Colonel Karuna has not spoken himself to deny reports of an internal rebellion, though his life would be in danger if he had really mounted a challenge to the Tiger leader, Vellupillai Prabakharan.

Rebels loyal to Colonel Karuna spoke privately about a request from the Tiger leader for 1,000 rebels to be sent from the east of the island to the north.

They said this order had not been obeyed by Colonel Karuna and suggested this was because of unhappiness about the fighting force predominately coming from the east of the island while the rebel movement was run by northerners.

But it is not known why this long-standing grievance should erupt now, just as campaigning is underway for general elections.

The Tigers are not directly contesting, but they are backing a group of Tamil parties - who are their proxies - in the hope the vote will give them political legitimacy.

Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim said there was a new situation in the east that had triggered a crisis meeting involving the Sri Lankan prime minister and international ceasefire monitors.

But Mr Solheim would not give details and it is still not really clear whether there is a major crisis within the rebel movement or not.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3530887.stm

ஒழுக்கமும் கட்டுப்பாடும் எங்கிருக்கோ அங்குதான் உயர்சியும் முன்னேற்றமும் இருக்கும்....! யாழ்களத்தில கட்டுப்பாடு குறைஞ்சு போச்சுது...BBC நீங்கள் போட்ட BBC செய்தியில் ஏன் முக்கியமான மேல் துண்டை எடுத்தீர்கள் அல்லது ஏன் பிந்திய அதே BBC குச் சொந்தமான செய்தியைப் போடாது விட்டீர்கள்...! விளக்கம் சொல்வீர்களா....???!

:twisted: :evil: :roll: