Alliance of hardliners sparks Tamil war warning
The Tamil Tigers warned yesterday that Sri Lanka could return to civil war following the formation of an alliance between a hardline leftist party and Chandrika Kumaratunga, the president. Mrs Kumaratunga announced on Tuesday that her party, the main opposition in Sri Lanka, had formed the “United People’s Freedom Alliance” with the JVP, a party that opposes autonomy for ethnic minority Tamils. The move has enraged the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have fought for a separate Tamil homeland in the island’s north and east in a brutal war that has cost at least 60,000 lives. Full Story