950827

LTTE bans

dowry marriages

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas have announced a ban of marriage brokers and dowry weddings due to a shortage of men in their embattled Jaffna stronghold, travellers from the region said on Sunday.

The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the ban will come into effect from Friday, Tamil civilians from the area told reporters at the northern government-held town of Vavuniya.

A shortage of men in the LTTE-held northern Jaffna peninsula, where the rebels maintain a de facto separate state, has also led to greater recruitment of women to the guerrilla movement to fight security forces.

Prospective brides in Sri Lanka must often pay substantial sums to the families of their future husbands, introduced through a marriage broker who takes a three percent commission.

"So many women in Jaffna are not married because they can't afford dowries," a traveller said. The LTTE has said they would "punish" those who violate the "dowry decree" but it was not immediately clear what the punishment was.-AP