EU ban on Tamil Tigers may make them rethink strategy of violence, analysts say

The EU's ban on Tamil Tigers - and its veiled threat to brand the group ``terrorists'' - may force the rebels to re-think their violent tactics as they claim to support peace talks to end Sri Lanka's civil war, analysts said.

``I think LTTE's options are limited,'' said Jehan Perera, a top analyst of National Peace Council, a Colombo-based independent think tank. He was referring to the rebels' official name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. ``The LTTE is desperately looking for international recognition, and any more acts of violence will jeopardize that dream,'' Perera said on Thursday. The rebels have their own de facto government in much of Sri Lanka's north and east, as well as their own military, judicial system and even traffic police.

But they lack international recognition. On Monday, the European Union issued a statement saying Tamil Tiger representatives will be refused entry to EU member states until further notice, while the bloc decides whether to add the group to its list of terrorist organizations.

The EU said the Tigers' ``continuing use of violence and terrorism'' threatened Sri Lanka's fragile peace process. But since the truce was signed, the rebels have been blamed for 409 killings - including those of 61 Sri Lankan security forces and 34 civilian informers, according to the Media Unit of the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry.

Also among those killed were 54 members of Tamil political parties opposed to the Tigers.

The Aug. 12 slaying of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, blamed on the rebels, triggered international indignation. The Tigers deny involvement in Kadirgamar's killing, and have generally declined comment on the other deaths. The EU ban is seen as a severe blow to the rebels, who have scrambled to improve their international image by traveling to European capitals to try building support among governments and the 800,000 Tamils who fled Sri Lanka after the 1983 anti-Tamil riots that started the war.

``I don't know how deep the rethinking will be in the LTTE, but I imagine there will be reassessment and review of their current policies,'' said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, another top political analyst of the Colombo-based Center for Policy Alternatives, an independent research institute.

Europe thinks the LTTE has gone too far

M.R. Narayan Swamy, newkerala.com, Thu 29th Sep 09:35GMT. After hosting Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas for over two decades, Europe has finally decided to show its displeasure with the world's most lethal insurgent group over its adamant refusal to give up violence. But Norway will not join the European Union (EU) decision not to receive any more LTTE delegation, but only because it is the mediator in Sri Lanka's peace process. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is predictably angry over the EU move, which came barely a week after the co-chairs to the Sri Lanka peace process (Japan, Norway, EU and the US) called on the Tigers to take "immediate steps" to end political assassinations and recruitment of child soldiers. The EU statement has gone much further. It condemned the LTTE for using "violence and terrorism" and said "that with immediate effect, delegations from the LTTE will no longer be received in any of the EU members states until further notice". It added that EU was "actively considering the formal listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation". It also warned that each member state "will, where necessary, take additional national measures to check and curb illegal or undesirable activities (including issues of funding and propaganda) of the LTTE, its related organisations and known individual supporters". The EU decision is the first-ever collective crackdown on and the most serious action against the LTTE, which has skillfully used Europe for well over 20 years to both generate money and fulminate against the Sri Lankan state.

``If the LTTE had thought that, irrespective of their behavior, they expect to be treated as an equal partner at peace talks or other forums, this ban by the EU certainly indicates otherwise,'' Saravanamuttu said.