04-12-2004, 10:55 AM
Sri Lanka east calm after rebel factional clashes
By Lindsay Beck
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Factional fighting among Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels eased off on Monday after a series of weekend clashes in the east that cast a cloud over efforts to end the island's 20-year civil war.
Officials said there was no confirmation the two factions of the Tamil Tiger rebels had agreed to a truce for local New Year holidays celebrated by both Sinhalese and ethnic minority Tamils.
But there were no reports of fresh clashes despite the Tigers saying they were making inroads into territory held by breakaway eastern commander Karuna.
"In commando style attacks on the Karuna group...the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have recovered large quantities of arms and a large number of cadres," said a report on the pro-rebel Tamilnet Web site referring to clashes on Friday night.
Sporadic fighting continued into the weekend, the military said.
The Tamil Web site said at least 450 cadres in the area had deserted Karuna, the eastern rebel leader whose split shattered the movement's strict internal discipline and who controls some 6,000 of the Tigers' 15,000 fighters.
"There are some rumours to say Karuna's cadres are leaving the area, but that is unconfirmed," said a military official in Karuna's eastern stronghold of Batticaloa.
The Tigers also say they took areas held by Karuna in Ampara, in the south of his territory, without resistance on Sunday, but military officials and truce monitors said there had been no disturbances reported.
"The situation in Ampara, according to our monitors, is calm and quiet. There is no humanitarian crisis," said Hagrup Haukland, deputy head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which oversees the island's two-year ceasefire.
The factional clashes were the first major fighting since the Norwegian-brokered truce was signed in February 2002, halting the killing in the separatist war.
It also leaves the two factions holding positions on either side of a main, government-controlled road in the east -- a worry for the army which does not want to be drawn into the fighting.
The Tigers, who have been fighting for a separate Tamil state in the north and east, have in past killed anyone who challenges their authority and have vowed to "get rid of Karuna from our soil".
But although the mainstream appears to have forced Karuna's faction to retreat, local media reported he had foiled their initial onslaught.
"They wanted to surround Karuna's main group...and inflict the maximum possible losses. But Karuna managed to get his men out before they were encircled," The Island newspaper quoted a military source as saying.
By Lindsay Beck
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Factional fighting among Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels eased off on Monday after a series of weekend clashes in the east that cast a cloud over efforts to end the island's 20-year civil war.
Officials said there was no confirmation the two factions of the Tamil Tiger rebels had agreed to a truce for local New Year holidays celebrated by both Sinhalese and ethnic minority Tamils.
But there were no reports of fresh clashes despite the Tigers saying they were making inroads into territory held by breakaway eastern commander Karuna.
"In commando style attacks on the Karuna group...the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have recovered large quantities of arms and a large number of cadres," said a report on the pro-rebel Tamilnet Web site referring to clashes on Friday night.
Sporadic fighting continued into the weekend, the military said.
The Tamil Web site said at least 450 cadres in the area had deserted Karuna, the eastern rebel leader whose split shattered the movement's strict internal discipline and who controls some 6,000 of the Tigers' 15,000 fighters.
"There are some rumours to say Karuna's cadres are leaving the area, but that is unconfirmed," said a military official in Karuna's eastern stronghold of Batticaloa.
The Tigers also say they took areas held by Karuna in Ampara, in the south of his territory, without resistance on Sunday, but military officials and truce monitors said there had been no disturbances reported.
"The situation in Ampara, according to our monitors, is calm and quiet. There is no humanitarian crisis," said Hagrup Haukland, deputy head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which oversees the island's two-year ceasefire.
The factional clashes were the first major fighting since the Norwegian-brokered truce was signed in February 2002, halting the killing in the separatist war.
It also leaves the two factions holding positions on either side of a main, government-controlled road in the east -- a worry for the army which does not want to be drawn into the fighting.
The Tigers, who have been fighting for a separate Tamil state in the north and east, have in past killed anyone who challenges their authority and have vowed to "get rid of Karuna from our soil".
But although the mainstream appears to have forced Karuna's faction to retreat, local media reported he had foiled their initial onslaught.
"They wanted to surround Karuna's main group...and inflict the maximum possible losses. But Karuna managed to get his men out before they were encircled," The Island newspaper quoted a military source as saying.
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