Sri Lanka tastes success in world
isolation of LTTE
10/12/97
COLOMBO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is riding high on its
efforts to marginalise Tamil Tiger rebels internationally by
turning global perceptions against the guerrillas, diplomats
said. As the military fought vicious battles with the rebels in
the north, the Foreign Ministry said in a report to parliament
earlier this week that Sri Lanka had managed to underline the
terrorist nature of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
resulting in a change in how the guerrilla group is perceived
globally. It said India and Malaysia had banned the LTTE, the
United States had designated it as a terrorist organisation, and
Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Netherlands had launched legal
action against LTTE activists. "LTTE have been perceived as
terrorists for a long time. It's not that the government of Sri
Lanka had made other governments realise that," a Western
diplomat said on Wednesday. "But Sri Lanka has now reached a
broader mass of people with the message that LTTE are terrorists.
The government's approach has been positive," the diplomat
added. Other diplomats in Colombo said the rebels, who are
fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri
Lanka's north and east, had nobody to blame but themselves for
the change. "LTTE's own action is enough to make people
horrified. The Central Bank blast last year was the turning
point," a second diplomat said. Nearly 100 people died and
some 1,400 were injured when suspected LTTE guerrillas drove a
truck filled with explosives into the Central Bank building in
January, 1996. Since then there have been more attacks on
civilian targets, including ships in the waters off Sri Lanka's
northeastern coast. The government has blamed LTTE for all of
them even while the rebels have denied responsibility for some.
In October, suspected rebels blew up another truck filled with
explosives in the car park of the five-star hotel and fought
running gun battles with troops on the streets of Colombo. The
toll: 18 people dead, more than 100 injured. The attack came days
after the United States included LTTE on its list of 30
"foreign terrorist organisations," making it difficult
for them to raise funds in the U.S. "LTTE's escalation in
terrorist activities and their lack of concern for international
opinion has turned people against them," said the first
diplomat. "LTTE have shown they can be really nasty," a
third diplomat said. But he added that the government's efforts
to improve its human rights record also had a big role to play in
the change of opinion. Sri Lankan troops were accused of
wide-spread violations in the months after they took over the
former rebel stronghold of Jaffna peninsula. But that is now
changing as the government takes steps to teach its military the
laws of war and launch legal proceedings against soldiers accused
of indiscriminate rape and murder of civilians. "The
government's message is that their war is against LTTE not Tamil
people. The Foreign Ministry has raised the profile of the issue,
certainly among the diplomatic community in Colombo," the
third diplomat said. He said foreign governments were more
sympathetic to Sri Lanka's problems than ever before. The Foreign
Ministry report said this was in stark contrast to earlier years
when former president Junius Jayawardene bemoaned that, "Sri
Lanka did not have any friend she could depend upon in the
world."