SRI LANKA: Tamil Tigers Warn Against Possible EU Ban

By Amantha Perera Reprint | | Print |

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, May 19 2006 (IPS) - Reports that the European Union plans to proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been met with defiance by rebel leaders and a warning that such a move could negatively impact the already weakened peace process.

LTTE&#39s chief negotiator and political strategist Anton Balasingham told the LTTE website Tamilnet.com on Thursday that Sinhalese hardliners were &#39&#39urgently seeking the international isolation of the LTTE as a prelude to taking up the military option in earnest&#39&#39.

&#39&#39Further proscriptions will invigorate the hardline elements in the south, including those in the present Sri Lankan government urging the military defeat of the LTTE and silence those advocating a negotiated solution," Balasingham said. "The more the international community alienates the LTTE, the more the LTTE will be compelled to tread a hard line individualist path.&#39&#39

Separately, S P Tamilselvan, political head of the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers, hinted that the organisation was prepared to meet the situation militarily. "If the government does not take stock of the situation and change course, we are afraid the country would be facing anarchy with the ceasefire agreement just remaining in paper. The Tamil people and their representatives, the LTTE, do not wish a war as a means of resolving political conflict," he said during a discussion with journalists in Kilinochchi, the organisation&#39s headquarters, earlier in the week.

‘&#39The LTTE&#39s actions and policies are dictated by the deteriorating objective conditions on the ground and not only the international community&#39s preferences,&#39&#39 Balasingham, who has led the LTTE&#39s delegations in several sets of negotiations with different Sri Lankan governments, said.

In the LTTE&#39s view the Sri Lankan state has already been waging a ‘shadow war&#39 against it, making use of renegade paramilitary forces led by Vinayagamoorthi Muraleetharan also known as ‘Col. Karuna&#39, who operates out of government-held areas in the east of the island.

"As such (an EU ban) is not going to help bring about peace, (but) will only serve to exacerbate the conditions of war and endanger the lives of Tamil civilians entrapped by Sinhala occupation forces," Balasingham said.

Sinhalese Buddhists who form 74 percent of Sri Lanka&#39s 20 million-strong population are accused of discriminating against the Tamil minority that largely follows the Hindu religion.

Britain, the United States, Canada and India have already listed the LTTE as a terrorist group and Washington had urged the EU to follow suit. A EU travel ban against the LTTE has already been in place since October.

A top U.S. official has said Washington would press the EU to follow suit. "We will talk to the EU about this. The EU needs to consult among its 25 members and take a decision," Donald Camp, U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs was quoted as saying this week.

Camp warned the Tigers to move away from violence. &#39&#39I think the LTTE should reassess its methods and abandon terrorism. That&#39s the only way it can have a future in a united Sri Lanka," he said. Warnings by the U.S in January that it would not hesitate to assist the Sri Lankan government, in case hostilities broke out, were followed by the Norwegians succeeding in bringing the Tigers back to the negotiating table after an almost three-year hiatus.

Clashes occurred this week between the Tigers and the army on either side of areas controlled by the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka. The Army said that it had repulsed an attack on the forward defence lines in Nagarkovil in northern Jaffna. A similar clash was reported in the no-man&#39s area to the south near Vavuniya town.

Continuing violence, that has killed more than 100 persons since the last round of talks between the two sides in Geneva in January, has once again put pressure on a four-year-old, Norwegian mediated ceasefire. The Tigers have fought successive Sri Lankan governments before the ceasefire in a two decade old ethnic war demanding a separate state for the country&#39s Tamil minority concentrated in the north and east.. The fighting has so far claimed more than 65,000 lives.

Both sides recently indicated readiness to engage in tit- for- tat attacks adding to the tension. Observers in Colombo feel that the latest trend has driven both sides further away from reopening discussions.

"The Tigers have always used guerrilla attacks as a means of getting their demands fulfilled from the government. Therefore, they are likely to pursue that strategy until either their demands are met or they are severely hurt by the counter attacks. Government, on the other hand, has recently started tit-for-tat counter attacks in order to demonstrate to the Tigers that it is ready for retaliation. These counter attacks are unlikely to deter the Tigers unless it is severely hurt by them," Colombo-based researcher Muttukrishna Sarvananthan told IPS.

The fear in the capital was that the Tigers may launch yet another attack to avenge the murders of 15 Tamil civilians, including infants, on an island off the Jaffna peninsula during the weekend. They were shot dead by yet unidentified gunmen while sleeping. The Tigers have blamed paramilitaries operating from government-held areas.

The Scandinavian Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said that it was investigating the murders, but has so far had not reached any conclusion. The SLMM has had to reassess its activities after monitors were caught in the crossfire during a sea battle, last week, that left at least 45 people dead.

SLMM chief Ulf Henricsson told IPS that the monitors had not resumed monitoring in the sea since the May 11 attack in which the Tigers targeted a troop carrier with 700 men onboard. "We are also looking at increasing the number of monitors, everything is under discussion," he said. Currently, there are 60 monitors serving in the country.

The SLMM, Henricsson in particular, has come under criticism from both sides for candid remarks. The government has chosen to ignore SLMM charges that Col. Karuna&#39s paramilitary was being aided by the Sri Lankan armed forces. And the Tigers are annoyed by an SLMM declaration that the group&#39s authority did not extend into the sea.

"We have once again said to the world that our sea belongs to no one but us. Our struggle for the liberation of our Tamil homeland is gaining momentum towards final victory. We have paid a very high price to redeem and maintain the Tamils&#39 sovereignty over their homeland and the four courageous Sea Tigers have offered their lives for our cause," Tamilini, the highest ranking woman within the LTTE said at a funeral for cadres who died during in the recent sea battle.

Attempts to rekindle the negotiations have taken a knocking because of the escalating violence and the verbal posturing by both sides.

The Tigers have stonewalled international efforts to reopen the dialogue. Special Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi was denied an opportunity to hold discussions with Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabahakaran on security grounds and returned from a meeting with Tamilselvan disappointed. He indicated that the international players were being pushed to the limit and said it was up to the government and the Tigers to decide on war or peace.

Nevertheless, the chances of international pressure influencing the Tigers for the second time in five months are not high. "I doubt it, because I think the LTTE has passed the stage of succumbing to international pressure. Tiger belligerence towards the SLMM in the aftermath of the Vettilaikerni (where the attack on the troop carrier took place) incident proves this," Sarvananthan said.