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Tamil Tiger renegade vows no return to war in Sri Lanka

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka : A top rebel who led an unprecedented split within the Tamil Tigers vowed he would not return Sri Lanka to its three-decade war but rejected an amnesty offered by the guerrilla chief.

Breakaway regional commander V. Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, told AFP in an interview he would not start a factional war against his former boss Velupillai Prabhakaran, whom he said had been preparing for war despite a truce of more than two years with the Sri Lankan government.

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"Lives sacrificed should be meaningful," Karuna said at his tightly-guarded Karadiyanaru base near this eastern Sri Lankan town, 303 kilometres (189 miles) east of the capital Colombo.

"If one has to make it meaningful it means going away from war. If we are to enter war again, it means we are going to lose precious lives again. This is the present reality."

Karuna, 37, who was a member of the peace negotiating team of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said there was no need for further recruitment or fresh military supplies as he was not planning war.

"There is no shortage of logistics because there is no idea of going back to war," Karuna said. "Since there is no need to go to war again, there is no need for any recruitment."

However, he said the estimated 6,000-strong force under his command in the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Ampara would be maintained for "self-defence and the defence of the people and the soldiers."

He launched a scathing attack on LTTE supremo Prabhakaran, 49, who is an ethnic Tamil from the north of the island and is based in the northern region of Wanni.

Karuna said one of the reasons for him to lead the unprecedented breakaway from the LTTE last week was Prabhakaran's preparations for war despite a Norwegian-brokered truce with the Colombo government in place since February 2002.

"We were asked to send a contingent of soldiers," said Karuna, who holds sway in eastern Sri Lanka. "The Wanni administration asked for soldiers at a time of peace. That made me conclude he was getting ready for war."

He said he was also influenced to mount the most serious challenge to the guerrilla organisation because fighters from the east were not being treated properly by the northern-based leadership.

Prabhakaran formally sacked Karuna from the separatist movement on Saturday and offered him an amnesty to lead a private life, but the regional commander dismissed the offer.

"The Wanni administration should think of being forgiven by our people and soldiers for being thankless for the deeds we have done to protect Wanni and its people," Karuna said.

His rejection came as Norway's peace envoy Erik Solheim was in the capital on a scheduled visit to review the ceasefire reached with Prabhakaran's LTTE.

Solheim is due to travel to the Tamil heartland of Jaffna Wednesday for talks with Tiger leaders there and then head to the main LTTE stronghold of Wanni.

Officials said there were no immediate plans for Solheim to meet with Karuna, who demanded a separate truce agreement with the government.

Diplomats said the failure to peacefully resolve the stand-off could further undermine Norwegian-led diplomacy to end three decades of ethnic violence that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

Peace talks have been on hold since April last year.

Karuna said the overall Tamil question should still be settled with the majority Sinhalese dominated government through negotiations.

"I think negotiations are very important," he said. "That is the only means through which we can find some settlement."
Thanx: AFP/Channel News Asia