Dontcha love it when that happens?
Sri Lanka's hopes of ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed and emerging as Asia's latest tiger economy have been shattered by a shock rift in the leadership of the Tamil Tiger rebels, analysts said. A split in the separatist movement would have been music to the ears of any past Sri Lankan Government, but with a ceasefire in effect since 2002 the instability has fuelled fears of the island slipping back to war. "The basic assumption was that the Tiger leadership had absolute control over all its cadres," a Western diplomat said. "That assumption is no longer valid and you have two powerful factions to contend with."
| Each trying to assassinate the other... |
The World Bank had forecast Sri Lanka to record 8 per cent growth this year and become Asia's fastest expanding economy after China and India, but political instability has already taken its toll. "The prevailing drought and the current uncertainty in the market may have some dampening impact," the Central Bank said, adding that growth for this year could be slower at 5.5 per cent. Over $US175 million in loans and another $US250 million in foreign direct investment had been put on hold as a direct result of the snap polls called for April 2, international lending institutions say. But a bigger worry is the prospect of a renewal in the bloodshed that has systematically held back the economy.
| Bloodshed does tend to do that, doesn't it? |
More than 60,000 people have died since 1972 in the Tigers' campaign for a separate Tamil homeland. Instead of cheering at what would have seemed a windfall for the government, the caretaker administration of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his political opponent President Chandrika Kumaratunga have kept quiet.
| Of course you keep quiet in a situation like this. You let them kill each other, then kill the guys left standing and shoot any wounded. That's if you have any sense, anyway. |
The best course of action for the government and the opposition was to stay aloof and hope the Tigers would resolve the issue on their own, analysts said.
| Yeah. Let 'em shoot it out. No skin off your fore. |
"Let it be sorted out by themselves," Mangala Samaraweera said, spokesman for Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance, when pressed for a reaction to the rift within the Tiger movement. The schism has shattered the Tamil Tigers' image as an invincible guerrilla organisation with zero tolerance for dissent and overshadowed the campaign for parliamentary elections. Ms Kumaratunga called the polls nearly four years ahead of schedule after last month sacking the legislature controlled by Mr Wickremesinghe, whom she accused of conceding too much to the rebels during peace talks brokered by Norway. |