A rebel leader who split with the Tamil Tiger guerrillas pulled his forces out because he believes the movement may be preparing to go back to war, the renegade leaders spokesman said Wednesday, accoreding to the Sri Lankan internet newspaper The Lanka Academic. Nevertheless, European cease-fire monitors said Wednesday they had temporarily halted their patrols in parts of eastern Sri Lanka – until the rebel – Muralitharan – clarifies his stand on the truce. We are no more patrolling areas in the east, said Agnes Bragadottir, the spokeswoman for the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. The SLMM will continue to patrol in the north, she said.
Muralitharan, also known as Karuna, said last week that because the cease-fire had been agreed between the Sri Lankan government and the main branch of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, his breakaway rebel group based in the Batticaloa area was not bound by it. However, he vowed to honor the truce until a new one is agreed between his faction and the government.
We have asked for clarification from Karuna on the status of the cease-fire in the east, Bragadottir said. The SLMM comprises about 55 monitors from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. They are posted in both government-held and rebel-held territories. They are unarmed and have no peacekeeping force to back them. Muralitharan announced last week he was splitting his 6,000 fighters from the main rebel army in a dispute over troop deployment, raising the prospect of a Tamil-versus-Tamil conflict and imperiling the country s peace efforts ahead of April 2 parliamentary elections.
The rebels have 15,000 fighters nationwide.The main rebel group, led by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, announced over the weekend that it had expelled Muralitharan. But the renegade commander said he would not step down despite a promise by top rebel leaders that he could leave the guerrilla army without repercussions.About 65,000 people have been killed in the conflict between the Tamil rebels and the government.
Kilde: The Lanka Academic
