Sri Lanka general: I was sidelined

(EPA)

Sri Lanka's outgoing military chief used his resignation letter to accuse the government of sidelining him on suspicion he was plotting a coup after leading the army to victory over Tamil Tiger rebels.

In the letter, General Sarath Fonseka claims that a rumour was spread among top government officials accusing him of planning a coup, and that the President's refusal to let him stay on showed "a strong mistrust in me, which is most depressing after all [that] was performed to achieve war victory". The general's forces ended the quarter-century civil war in May.

He announced he would retire at the end of this month amid speculation that he plans to run against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in upcoming elections.