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Sri lanka tiger rebels expel renegade leader Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4510549http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4510549
06 Mar 2004 12:16
Sri Lanka Tiger rebels expel renegade leader
By Lindsay Beck
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers expelled a renegade leader on Saturday, but said their command structure was in place and the internal crisis would not threaten the island's two-year-old peace process.
There is still no sign the split will be resolved quickly and peacefully, which would make it difficult to restart talks between the government and rebels, who waged a separatist war for 20 years until signing a truce two years ago.
The ceasefire has held but the first open challenge to rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran further complicates peace efforts stalled by a row between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that has led to a snap election on April 2.
"Karuna has been discharged from the liberation organisation and relieved of his duties," said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan, adding the rebels were still committed to the ceasefire.
The split snarls an already fragile peace process stalled over the political fight in the government, which the Tigers say shows the majority Sinhalese are not serious about talking peace.
"He was acting as a traitor to the Tamil people," Thamilselvan said of V. Karuna, the Tiger leader in eastern Sri Lanka who split from the rebels this week and demanded that the government sign a separate ceasefire with him.
CONFUSION OVER DISPUTE
Confusion surrounds what caused the dispute and what prompted Karuna, the military name for V. Muralitharan, to say earlier this week he wanted a separate truce with the government.
"In peacetime other tensions come out and he has highlighted the long-standing differences between the northern and eastern Tamils," said Jehan Perera of the independent National Peace Council.
Thamilselvan was flanked at a news conference in the rebel headquarters in northern Sri Lanka by Ramesh, Karuna's deputy who was appointed as his replacement, and other leaders from the rebel command in the east.
They were dressed in military uniforms with a yellow and orange Tamil Eelam flag on the table in front of them.
"We ensure the peace process will not be disrupted by an action taken by an individual. The leadership is clear in its commitment to continue with the ceasefire and the peace process and talks that may resume at anytime," Thamilselvan said.
There was no word on what would happen to Karuna or whether he would resist attempts to remove him.
"The question is whether it is an act of an individual as the LTTE says, or if he has support among cadres," said Perera.
About 6,000 cadres -- one-third of the LTTE's total -- had been under his command.
The Tigers have a strict code of loyalty and others who have questioned the party line have been assassinated.
"The command structure and cadres under Karuna have remained loyal to Mr Prabhakaran," Thamilselvan said, adding Karuna's decision to strike out on his own "was a personal matter".
"We will consult further with the leadership and decide on what action to take," he said when asked what would happen if Karuna resisted efforts to remove him.
Karuna's demands for a separate ceasefire have already been met with confusion in Colombo as renegotiating the truce agreement would be difficult.
It was signed between Prabhakaran and the Norwegian government -- which is brokering the peace effort -- and Wickremesinghe and the Norwegians, and any changes require "the mutual agreement of both parties".
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