U.S. to declare Tigers terrorists: Minister<\/p>\n
COLOMBO (Agencies): The United States plans to declare Sri
\nLanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas as terrorists, a move that will
\nlead to freezing the rebels' foreign assets, a senior minister
\nsaid here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister G. L. Peiris said the U.S. authorities had
\ntold him, during his recent visit to Washington, that the Clinton
\nadministration was preparing a list of terrorist organizations
\nworldwide.<\/p>\n
\"I have been told that the LTTE (the Liberation Tigers of
\nTamil Eelam) will no doubt be included,\" Peiris said, adding that
\nCanada and Germany were contemplating similar action to block
\nforeign funding for the Tigers.<\/p>\n
U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said recently
\nthat the Clinton administration considered the LTTE to be
\n\"ruthless and vicious terrorists.\"<\/p>\n
\"As a general rule, the United States itself certainly will
\nnot have productive relations with any terrorist group,\" Burns
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The LTTE has already warned that Washington's diplomatic and
\nmilitary support of Colombo would \"expand\" the civil war, which
\nhas claimed more than 50,000 lives in the past 23 years.<\/p>\n
\"American arms are being sold to the Sri Lankan government
\nsince it withdrew its earlier stand of not selling lethal weapons
\nto Sri Lanka,\" an LTTE publication said.<\/p>\n
The LTTE is leading a violent guerrilla campaign for
\nindependence in the island's northern and eastern regions and
\nhave been accused of devastating attacks against civilian, as
\nwell as military, targets.<\/p>\n
In August, the U.S. sent a high-level team here to discuss
\ncounter-terrorism after describing the LTTE as a terrorist
\norganization. However, the Tigers are yet to be formally declared
\nterrorists.<\/p>\n
The U.S. team led by ambassador Philip Wilcox, co-ordinator
\nfor counter-terrorism in the state department, said terrorism
\ncould not be excused for political reasons and must be treated as
\nan unmitigated crime.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka maintains that the LTTE funds its military
\nactivities through extortion in western nations where there is a
\nconsiderable expatriate Tamil community.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government yesterday removed
\ncensorship of news on the country's ethnic war, imposed on the
\ndomestic media earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\"The censorship is lifted with immediate effect,\" Media
\nMinister Dharmasiri Senanayake told a news conference.<\/p>\n
The censorship was imposed just before government forces
\nlaunched the final phase of their offensive to oust Tamil Tiger
\nrebels from their northern Jaffna peninsula stronghold.<\/p>\n
The army completed the takeover of the peninsula, 400
\nkilometers north of Colombo, in April but the censorship
\ncontinued despite repeated protests by the media.<\/p>\n
The end of censorship follows the capture late last month of
\nKilinochchi, the last major town controlled by the LTTE, which is
\nfighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in Sri
\nLanka.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-to-declare-tigers-terrorists-minister-1447893297",
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