Sri Lanka again outlaws Tamil Tigers

The Sri Lankan government officially outlawed the Tamil Tiger rebel group, ruling out the possibility of restarting peace talks to end a quarter of a century of civil war.

Yesterday’s move puts even more pressure on the separatist guerrillas, who suffered a major blow when the Sri Lankan military captured their de facto capital last week and promised to finish off the rebels within weeks.

The guerrillas had ignored an ultimatum to allow hundreds of thousands of civilians living in rebel-held areas to leave, so the Cabinet unanimously agreed to the ban, Cabinet minister Maithripala Sirisena said.

The government and international rights groups have accused the Tamil Tigers of holding civilians as human shields against the military offensive that has shrunk their territory on this island off southern India to a single slice of jungle.

The rebels deny using civilians as human shields. The rebels were not available for comment – most communications in their region have been severed in fighting.

Government officials already have vowed to destroy the rebel group, so while yesterday’s ban was little more than a formality, it was seen as a symbolic rejection of any possible rapprochement.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalisation by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.

The Tamil Tigers had long been outlawed in Sri Lanka, but the government lifted the ban in 2002 when the sides agreed a ceasefire. The deal collapsed amid new fighting three years ago.

Fighting continued yesterday with military air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets, and ground troops north of the rebel-held area pushing southward, the military said. The military said it had recovered the bodies of five rebel fighters killed in battle.

Independent accounts of the fighting were not available because the government has barred journalists and foreign aid groups from the war zone.

The military said its soldiers were being killed but did not give numbers.

“We are suffering casualties from mortars and booby traps more than from fighting,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Despite their loss of territory, the Tamil Tigers were still firing significant amounts of artillery and mortar shells, leading the military to believe they either had large stocks of ammunition or were still able to smuggle in supplies, Brig Nanayakkara said.