Randeep Ramesh, South Asia correspondent - Sri Lanka's top general, who masterminded the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after a 25-year civil war, has resigned from his post to enter politics as the head of a coalition against the country's president.
Senior Sri Lankan officials told the Guardian that General Sarath Fonseka met President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday to hand in his resignation, which was accepted immediately. The split appears to have been triggered by the president's efforts to take sole credit for wiping out the Tamil Tigers.
The last straw was when Fonseka was "promoted" to a new, largely ceremonial role last summer. That slight planted the seeds of rebellion. Fonseka is now considering challenging the president in an election to be held before April.
Polls for the country's parliament have to be held by May and it had been expected that the presidential election would take place at the same time. Analysts said Fonseka would become the face of a disparate opposition united by a loathing of Rajapaksa and his three brothers, who run the country as president, ministers and advisers.
"The opposition desperately needs a charismatic leader and the possibility of the general joining has electrified them," said Jehan Perera, a political columnist. "[Fonseka] has been openly saying it was the army that won the war. He is a nationalist … much more forthright perhaps than the Rajapaksa brothers."
Opposition parties talked up Fonseka's potential candidacy to unsettle the ruling alliance and help find any issue that can help them erode the incumbent's post-war popularity. If he did stand for office, Fonseka would be likely to cut deep into Rajapaksa's core vote.
The general is considered even more nationalistic than Rajapaksa. He told a reporter last year that Sri Lanka belonged to the Sinhalese majority and that minorities could not on the "pretext of being a minority demand undue things".
The desire to unseat Rajapaksa has brought about an unlikely alliance of Tamil parties, Sinhalese Marxists and the traditional ruling party. "These people have not tasted power for more than a decade. Fonseka is their last chance. So even the Tamil politicians will back him," said Perera.
The price of that support, says Perera, will be the dismantling of the powerful executive presidency. Many elected representatives fear Fonseka could entrench an autocracy.
"There's a fear that the general as president could become autocratic … that is why the politicians want a pre-poll pact with Fonseka promising good governance, fresh elections and a pledge to get rid of the executive presidency."
Such manoeuvring has not gone unnoticed in Colombo. In recent weeks the president's allies have been openly critical of the general, calling on him not to take "personal credit" for the victory. The army chief was said to have been angered by the offer of a job in the cabinet as "sports minister".
Rajapaksa, say some, overplayed his hand after the defeat of the Tigers in May. He annoyed the deeply conservative but powerful legal fraternity in Colombo by dismissing the then chief justice's criticism of the treatment of Tamil refugees after the war.
The president infuriated opposition parties by luring MPs over to his party with the promise of ministerial jobs. He is also accused of entrenching his power with a cult of personality – among the many titles bestowed on him by supporters are "Sri Lanka's Saviour, the Glorious Overlord of the Sinhalese and the Monarchical Emperor of the Glorious Land of Buddhism".
© Guardian
Related Links:
Sri Lankan general behind Tigers defeat may stand for president - Times Online
General who beat Tamil Tigers quits to challenge the President - The Independent
Sri Lanka top general retires, may run for president - Reuters
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