LTTE admits to rift, Govt treads gently

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels today said they were facing a crisis within their leadership after a reported 8216;8216;split8217;8217; i...

Sri Lanka8217;s Tamil Tiger rebels today said they were facing a crisis within their leadership after a reported 8216;8216;split8217;8217; in the party ranks as peace broker Norway moved to salvage the fragile ceasefire. The peace secretariat of the rebel LTTE said their supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was discussing the crises swith his seniors from the Eastern Batticaloa district where the regional commander showed dissent.

The LTTE8217;s political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan went in for emergency talks with the Norwegian truce monitoring chief Trond Furuhovde at the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi.

8216;8216;Thamilselva said the current crisis is only a temporary one and a resoluton will be reached very soon,8217;8217; the secretariat said in a statement after talks with Furhove.

Despite the unprecedented crisis within the LTTE, Batticaloa and the rest of island8217;s rebel-controlled regions remain calm, government officials said. President Chandrika Kumaratunga8217;s party reacted cautiously to the power struggle within the LTTE saying they believed it was not serious. 8216;8216;As far as we are concerned these are rublings and rumblings only8217;8217; spokesman for Kumaratunga8217;s party Mangala Samaraweera said. 8216;8216;We sincerely hope the peace process will continue.8217;8217; Yesterday saw the first major public airing of differences in the usually highly disciplined Tigers, involving the outfit8217;s eastern Commander V. Muralitharan 8212; better known as Karuna.

8216;8216;There is a problem, but we have no reason to believe that the continuation of the ceasefire agreement is in doubt,8217;8217; government spokesman G.L. Peiris said. 8216;8216;It is not useful to comment on this matter.8217;8217; The pro-rebel tamilnet.com website denied there was a 8216;8216;major split8217;8217; in the LTTE, led by elusive supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. 8216;8216;We will function directly under the command of our leader,8217;8217; it quoted a spokesman of Karuna as saying. He said, 8216;8216;there was no split in the LTTE.8217;8217;

However diplomatic sources said Karuna, who is also a member of the Tigers8217; peace negotiating team, had informed Norway through his aide that he should be treated as a separate entity, signalling his dissent. Local rebel sources said Karuna was unhappy about two killings on Monday in his area apparently carried on the orders of the LTTE8217;s intelligence chief Pottu Amman.