EU ban to worsen "conditions of war" -S Lanka rebels

COLOMBO, May 18 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels today said a European Union move to ban the group as a terrorist organisation would seriously damage the island's failing peace process and worsen ''conditions of war''.

EU diplomats told Reuters yesterday the 25-nation bloc was set to outlaw the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after a rash of deadly attacks on the military some fear could tip the island back into all-out civil war.

They said a decision in principle was due this week.

''The more the international community alienates the LTTE, the more the LTTE will be compelled to tread a hardline individualist path,'' the group's London-based chief negotiator Anton Balasingham told pro-rebel Web site www.tamilnet.com.

''(An EU ban) is not going to help bring about peace, but will only serve to exacerbate the conditions of war,'' he said.

''(Southern) Sinhala hardline elements will undoubtedly take steps to further escalate the violence and precipitate a war in which they hope to destroy the LTTE.'' ''If this happens, the LTTE will be compelled to resist.'' A 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 island's north and east.

The Tigers, already outlawed as a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada and India, have used past trips to Europe during peace talks to raise funds from expatriate Tamils, and any freeze on assets would likely hurt their war chest.

The EU slapped a travel ban on the rebels in October after suspected rebel snipers assassinated the then foreign minister, and said at the time it was considering banning the Tigers for ''use of violence and terrorism''.

Proscription of the rebels in the EU would outlaw the group and its followers by shutting down premises and freezing assets belonging to it, diplomats said.

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

The Tigers and the military each accuse the other of killing ethnic Tamil civilians, and the violence looks just like periods of the two-decade civil war in which over 64,000 people died.

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

REUTERS PR HS1857