'Lanka rebels used truce to stall and rearm'

Colombo, Apr 4: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers only signed up to a truce in 2002 to buy time and rearm for more war, said a former rebel commander accused of helping the military.

Colonel Karuna, who broke away from the mainstream Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2004 and has since formed a political party that aims to run the island's restive east, told the BBC that reclusive Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was never sincere about peace talks.

''What we were told by him was 'to drag these talks out for about 5 years, somehow let the time pass by, meanwhile I will purchase arms and we'll be ready for the next stage of fighting','' Karuna said at an undisclosed location in the east.

''That was his order.'' The government has long argued that the rebels only agreed to the truce -- which is now dead on the ground -- to rearm for a war that has killed around 68,000 people since 1983.

The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the remarks by Karuna, who is known by his nom-de-guerre rather than his real name, V Muralitharan.

Analysts say the Karuna faction has helped the military to wage renewed war against the Tigers in the east. Troops have driven the Tigers from more than 600 square km of territory they controlled in the districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

Under-Age Fighters:

Karuna denied that his followers had helped the military and that they carry weapons in government-controlled areas.

''Saying that our fighters are fighting together with the troops is completely false. No situation like that has taken place,'' Karuna said. ''We being among the people, being seen with the military with weapons, is false.'' Reuters saw armed Karuna faction members with T-56 rifles and ammunition vests walking past troops at a military checkpoint in Batticaloa last month. Aid workers, who confirmed their identity, have repeatedly reported witnessing similar scenes.

Karuna has set up a political party called Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), whose offices in the east are situated close to army camps or on roads guarded by troops. Lampposts throughout Batticaloa town now bear the group's name.

They have even redrawn the Tiger flag -- theirs also bears a roaring golden Tiger, but they have replaced the mainstream group's crossed rifles with a pair of shaking hands.

A senior presidential aide has confided that the government sees Karuna as a candidate to eventually run the civil administration in the east as chief minister.

Karuna's interview -- in which he wore a suit and tie instead of fatigues -- appears aimed at building his political profile at a time when the Tigers have been routed in the east.

Aid groups say that, like the Tigers, the Karuna group has been forcibly abducting children as fighters in the east. A UN envoy has even accused elements of the military of helping the breakaway rebels to do so.

''We have received so many accusations to our political officers, saying that their children are missing ... We have no need to recruit them to us, because we have no need of building up a military body,'' Karuna said.

However, he conceded that there were under-age fighters in the group's camps, and said they would be released. The Tigers argue under-age fighters in their ranks have lied about their age to join up, and were not abducted. Karuna said the same thing.

''There are people like that in our camps. Definitely we will release them. We would not keep people like that.''

Reuters

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