Tiger Hunt

Until recently, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were considered among the most disciplined guerrillas on earth: an often suicidal force locked in a 20-year struggle to secure autonomy for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. Today, the Tigers are fighting each other as rival factions clash north of the eastern city of Batticaloa. The violence follows the March split by the Tigers’ eastern commander, Colonel Karuna Amman, who broke ranks from the northern leadershipa dangerous move in a group that demands total loyalty to its supreme commander, Vellupillai Prabhakaran. On April 9, Prabhakaran issued a death warrant for Karuna and sent 1,000 of his troops to hunt down the breakaway faction.

Just months ago, Sri Lanka was enjoying a cease-fire between the government and the Tigers; the economy was growing; and investors were tentatively returning. Those hopes are now on holdand not just because of Tiger infighting. The government is also in disarray following elections last week in which President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s party failed to win a parliamentary majority. Without it, Kumaratunga “cannot do everything stated in her manifesto,” says Jeremy Clarke, who heads the International Monetary Fund’s Sri Lankan operations. Last week, she found she had insufficient authority to install her choice for Prime Minister, former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, and was forced to accept his rival Mahinda Rajapakse. As for resuming peace negotiations with the Tigers, Jehan Perera of the National Peace Council says the most the President can now do is “talk about talks.”