Tigers warn of war over Chandrika's alliance

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Kumaratunga's deal Tuesday with the People's Liberation Front (JVP) could lead to a collapse of a truce in place since February 2002.

"This anti-peace political pact articulating an incoherent, confused and mutually contradictory position on a serious national issue might create objective conditions for the resumption of ethnic war," LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham was quoted as saying in the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website.

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The London-based Balasingham, who is also the LTTE's chief negotiator, said the deal between the two main opposition parties in Sri Lanka failed to address the ethnic conflict which has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.

The LTTE's reaction to the latest political realignment in Colombo came as the alliance vowed to maintain the Norwegian-brokered truce if they are returned to power.

Elections are not due till December 2007.

However, Kumaratunga, whose party is in the opposition in parliament, is widely expected to call snap elections giving her new alliance a chance of toppling Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Kumaratunga's new leftist alliance said they will keep up peace talks with the LTTE, but the guerrillas said they will not talk to any group which fails to recognise them as the sole representatives of the minority Tamils.

"It is the (majority) Sinhalese people who have to reflect on the dangerous consequences that might arise if forces inimical to peace and ethnic harmony are voted to political power," Balasingham said.

Sri Lanka's peace broker Norway suspended its role here in November after Kumaratunga sacked three ministers in Wickremesinghe's cabinet and took away the ministries of defence, interior and information.

Kumaratunga's new alliance has also rejected the LTTE's peace plan unveiled on October 31 as a blueprint for a separate state, but said they will keep up a peace process.

The new alliance admits serious contradictions in their positions regarding a final settlement to Sri Lanka's long-running ethnic conflict, but said they will work towards a solution and accept the consensus of the majority.