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COLOMBO : Sri Lanka's former military chief Sarath Fonseka took his presidential campaign Saturday to the ethnic heartland of the Tamil Tiger rebellion he helped crush last year.
The retired four-star general, who is seen as the main challenger to President Mahinda Rajapakse in polls slated for January 26, visited the northern region of Jaffna where he toured a historic Hindu temple and addressed a rally.
Fonseka, 58, was also due to meet the influential Roman Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundranayagam, a spokesman for his office said.
The defence ministry effectively blocked independent journalists travelling to Jaffna, even though the authorities had announced last month that travel restrictions had been withdrawn.
Officials said President Rajapakse, 64, was expected to visit Jaffna later this month to woo minority Tamil voters, who could play a crucial role in the presidential election if the majority Sinhalese community is divided.
Both Fonseka and Rajapakse appeal largely to the Sinhalese and both claim credit for the final defeat of the Tiger rebels in May, which ended a decades-old ethnic conflict.
Rajapakse called a snap poll hoping to capitalise on victory over the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who had launched their campaign for a Tamil homeland from Jaffna in 1972.
Fonseka and Rajapakse have been at loggerheads since the end of the conflict. Fonseka quit after accusing the government of sidelining him and falsely suspecting him of trying to stage a coup.
- AFP/vm
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