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United States denies backing Sri Lankan rebel commander
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't us."
The United States denied reports on Tuesday that it supported a Sri Lankan renegade rebel commander who broke away from the main Tamil Tiger army taking with him nearly half of its fighters.
| Don'tcha just hate it when that happens? |
âThe reports are completely untrue. Itâs rubbish,â Cody Taylor, spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Colombo, said after a Tamil-language newspaper quoted a rebel leader as saying he believed Washington was behind the split.
| "Never happen. Not in a million years. Nope. Nope. Not us." |
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, broke away from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on March 3, accusing the main rebel group of preparing for war. Muralitharan, in charge of the rebel army in the east, took 6,000 soldiers from the 15,000-strong guerrilla army with him. âWe strongly believe that the US is behind Karunaâs selfish act,â rebel leader S Karikalan - who defected from Muralitharanâs command after the split - was quoted as saying in Tuesdayâs Sudar Oli. âKaruna could not have acted traitorously without external backing. He has been bought over by an external power that is intent on destroying our liberation struggle and our leadership,â Karikalan was quoted as saying. Muralitharan didnât break away because he thought central command was planning to start fighting again, Karikalan said. Instead, he claimed, Muralitharan had been accused by the LTT leadership of financial irregularities and questionable conduct, so fearing disciplinary action he took off with his army.
| "Dat's right. He just stole half the army and spirited it away. It musta been the Merkins what dunnit!" |
Posted by: Fred 2004-03-17 |
