Breakaway Tamil rebels want to avoid bloodshed

Meanwhile Sri Lankan government troops, who have remained neutral in the stand-off between the Tiger factions, have been placed on alert amid fears a factional war could erupt in the east of the island.

Eastern regional leader V. Muralitharan, known as Karuna, who broke away from the Tamil Tiger leadership based in the island's northern Wanni region, said he was keen to avoid fresh bloodshed.

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"We will try every possibility to avoid internal clashes," a spokesman for Karuna told AFP when contacted by telephone. "We don't want to see any more bloodshed on our soil, but it depends on the Wanni leadership."

He said prominent citizens in the eastern district of Batticaloa had rallied around Karuna and were on their way Monday to meet the northern leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to try to end the crisis.

Thousands of people took to the streets in the district controlled by Karuna Sunday and burnt an effigy of Tiger Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in the first ever open defiance of the Tiger leader.

Karuna, 37, was formally dismissed from the Tiger movement by Prabhakaran, 49, on Saturday. A replacement named has not been able to take charge as Karuna has refused to step down.

The split comes as a serious blow to the faltering Norwegian-led peace process aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed between the Tigers and government forces that have left at least 60,000 dead.

It also comes ahead of snap general elections on April 2. The polls were called by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who has accused political rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of ceding too much in negotiations to end the conflict.

"We love peace for the betterment of our people and we have no idea of starting a war," spokesman Varadan, who uses only one name, quoted Karuna as saying. "But, we will act in self defence."

He said Karuna had asked peace broker Norway to help arrange a separate truce between his faction and government forces. The Sri Lankan defence ministry rejected the request on Friday.

"On our part we have spoken to Norwegian embassy," Varadan said. "Now it is up to them. If they like to meet us, we are ready to discuss."

Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim was due to arrive here later Monday on a visit to review the truce between the government and the LTTE that has been in place since February 2002.

It was not immediately clear if Solheim was planning to meet Karuna.

Meanwhile, ethnic Tamil residents in eastern Sri Lanka staged a work stoppage Monday expressing solidarity with a renegade rebel leader amid fears of factional fighting, residents and military officials said.