In recent weeks the African National Congress has admitted that some of the violence was internecine warfare among "self defense" units in the group that had spun out of control.

So often internecine warfare between the police and the D.A.'s office interfered with the tracking down of criminals.

He occasionally expressed impatience with their political directors on the ground that they were "engaged in internecine political warfare, squabbling over sinecures" in Miami.

"These people have been engaged in internecine political warfare, squabbling over sinecures," the official said.

"It was internecine warfare," he recalled.

What followed was internecine warfare between scores of new schools of thought.

Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups."

Not unlike the Mayor, Mr. Golden is a veteran of the city's internecine political warfare known for his temper, ego and sensitivity to slights, real or perceived.

Simonds had survived thirty years of internecine political and doctrinal warfare within Masada's theocracy, and he knew perfectly well Yu had his own superiors and his own agenda.

Bush said to Blair that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups" in Iraq after the war.