Sri Lanka – Tamil Tigers

Tigers admit leader is dead, Sri Lankan government announces local elections in north

Article published on the 2009-05-25 Latest update 2009-05-25 13:51 TU

Tamils in Malaysia hold portraits of Vellupillai Prabhakaran during a demonstration, 24 May 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

A spokesperson for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka admitted Monday that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the rebel group, is dead, a week after he was killed by government troops. It is now unclear who is at the head of the LTTE. Meanwhile, the government in the northern area that was held by the Tigers has announced that there will be municipal elections in August.

"We announce today with inexpressible sadness and heavy hearts that our incomparable leader, the supreme commander of the LTTE, attained martyrdom fighting the Sri Lankan government," said Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the head of international relations of the Tigers, in a statement Sunday.

He added that Prabhakaran's "final request was for the struggle to continue until we achieved the freedom for his people", though he later said that the Tigers would use non-violent methods to fight for an independent Tamil homeland.

Pathmanathan’s statements were called into question by the pro-Tiger TamilNet website, indicating there is likely a power struggle over who will now lead the Tigers.

“The LTTE’s Department for Diaspora Affairs (DDA) told TamilNet that it would not comment without explicit authorisation from the LTTE leadership,” reports the site, adding that “the LTTE leadership is safe and it will re-emerge when the right time comes.”

It also raises questions over Prabhakaran’s death.

“The general opinion prevails is that Colombo has failed in conclusively establishing the evidence for Prabhakaran's demise,” it said.

The government said it destroyed the rebels' military and political leadership, and has claimed victory in the war against the Tigers.

Some 300,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by the fighting are in refugee camps in the north. The United Nations has requested “unhindered access” to the areas, but the government has blocked aid workers from entering until it is satisfied that rebels are not hiding out among the refugees.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left the country after touring refugee camps, remarking that civilians are “badly in need of food, water and sanitation.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the local government ministry in the area said that municipal elections will be held 4-17 August of this year.

The government says the last local council elections in Vavuniya, the capital of the Wanni region, was in March 1994, and the last election on the Jaffna peninsula was in 1998.