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."