Sri Lankan war allies, now political enemies

The Associated Press (hosted on Google) ^ | December 24, 2009 | Krishan Francis

[myknowledge]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Just a few months ago, Sri Lanka's president and its army chief were strong allies, working closely together to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels and end the nation's 25-year civil war.

Now the two men hailed as national heroes are bitter political opponents, as Gen. Sarath Fonseka works to unseat President Mahinda Rajapaksa in next month's presidential elections.

Rajapaksa's allies brand Fonseka a potential dictator and say he is ungrateful to the man who promoted him to army chief and put him in charge of leading the fight against the rebels.

Fonseka, who resigned from the military last month, accuses Rajapaksa of corruption and nepotism and says the nation is still not at peace, even though the war ended in May.

"Under cover of war victory, if someone is trying to boost up his family image or to stick to nepotism ... then you can't say peace has come," Fonseka told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

[myknowledge]

Friends have turned into rivals, just like the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union following WWII.

Pres. Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gen. Sarath Fonseka (Sri Lankan Army, retired) have turned into political foes.

Why would an army general try to be president of the Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka anyway? Trying to be a military dictator or just trying to eliminate the nepotism between Rajapaksa and his relatives in office?