EU ban may derail Lankan peace move: Tigers

The 25-nation bloc agreed in principle this week to blacklist the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organisation after a wave of deadly attacks on the military.

The military said the Tigers fired rocket propelled grenades and mortars across no-man's land in the far north on Saturday in the latest in a series of skirmishes across forward defence lines. The military reported no casualties.

"The European Union is set to blacklist the LTTE as a terrorist organisation hoping such a punitive action will force the LTTE to the negotiating table, irrespective of the ground reality," London-based chief rebel negotiator Anton Balasingham told pro-rebel Web site www.tamilnet.com.

"I gravely doubt that the LTTE leadership will bow down to pressure and humiliation. As such, this move will be counter-productive. Faced with global isolation and humiliation, the LTTE may be compelled to stay away from further talks."

The Tigers have pulled out of peace talks indefinitely and say they will not return until soldiers are confined to barracks and the government reins in armed groups, including former comrades turned renegades they say are receiving military help.

Balasingham had previously warned the impending ban -- which diplomats say is agreed in principle but still needs to be rubberstamped -- would "exacerbate the conditions of war".

An EU ban would be a diplomatic slap in the face for the Tigers, who have long sought to project an image on the world stage as viable leaders of a de facto state they want recognised as a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east.

The Tigers, already outlawed as a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada and India, depend heavily on raising funds from expatriate Tamil communities -- some of which rights groups say is done under duress.

However, diplomats said there would be no immediate move to freeze Tiger assets. EU member states stopped officially receiving Tiger delegations in October after suspected rebels assassinated the then foreign minister.

The planned ban on the group comes after a series of attacks and military clashes that have killed more than 270 troops and civilians since early April, including a fierce naval battle and aerial bombing raids just last week.

The Tigers and the military accuse each other of killing ethnic Tamil civilians, and the violence is reminiscent of the two-decade civil war in which more than 64,000 people died.

At least five people drowned and four were missing on Saturday after a boat carrying ethnic Tamils fleeing north Sri Lanka capsized on its way to Tamil Nadu, Indian police said.

Truce monitors and the Tigers have both started referring to a "low intensity war". The government disagrees, saying the ceasefire holds and that it will limit itself to tactical bursts of retaliation if attacked.