03-19-2004, 06:29 PM
5,000 Sri Lankans gather to show solidarity with renegade rebel in eastern town
Associated Press, Fri March 19, 2004 05:44 EST . BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka - (AP) More than 5,000 men, women and children staged a demonstration Friday in support of a renegade rebel commander who split from the main Tamil Tiger guerrilla army with nearly half its fighters.The renegade commander said earlier this month he broke away from the Tamil Tigers because the separatists may be preparing to break a two-year-old truce and launch an offensive against the government of Sri Lanka - . The Tigers, who denied the accusations, expelled Muralitharan three days after he announced his decision to defect, and branded him a traitor. The Tigers began fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in the north and east in 1983, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people have died in the conflict. A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in February 2002 halted the fighting, but the split in the rebel ranks has raised fears the island may return to war.
Associated Press, Fri March 19, 2004 05:44 EST . BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka - (AP) More than 5,000 men, women and children staged a demonstration Friday in support of a renegade rebel commander who split from the main Tamil Tiger guerrilla army with nearly half its fighters.The renegade commander said earlier this month he broke away from the Tamil Tigers because the separatists may be preparing to break a two-year-old truce and launch an offensive against the government of Sri Lanka - . The Tigers, who denied the accusations, expelled Muralitharan three days after he announced his decision to defect, and branded him a traitor. The Tigers began fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in the north and east in 1983, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people have died in the conflict. A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in February 2002 halted the fighting, but the split in the rebel ranks has raised fears the island may return to war.
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