* Peace was "not possible" with President Mahinda Rajapaksa

* Called on foreign powers to force the government to honour the terms of a 2002 ceasefire pact
S.P. Thamilselvan

Interview - Sri Lanka rebels vow to cripple economyBy Simon Gardner
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, July 12 (Reuters)

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels aim to cripple the island's economy with major attacks on military and economic targets, a top rebel leader told Reuters on Thursday.
Tiger political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan said peace was "not possible" with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, pouring cold water on international efforts aimed at halting a deadly new chapter in a two-decade civil war.
"Our targets would be in the future major military and economic structures of the government of Sri Lanka," he said in an interview in the rebels' northern stronghold of Kilinochchi.
"They will be targets which help the government sustain its military operations and military rule," he added.
"For instance (our) attack on the oil installations. That is one of the targets that will cripple the economy of Sri Lanka as well as the military capability of Sri Lanka, so such will be the tactic."
Thamilselvan's comments came a day after the government declared it had driven the rebels from their last jungle stronghold in the east after months of fighting in which the military has had the upper hand.
The capture of a jungle area called Thoppigala in the eastern district of Batticaloa came after the military captured vast swathes of terrain from the Tigers in the east this year.
"We can only say that Thoppigala and the jungles the government is now gloating about as if they had captured a new country or a state or something like that, is not going to last very long," Thamilselvan said.
Analysts say the Tigers' military machine is still intact in the north where they run a de facto state, and fear a conflict that has killed an estimated 4,500 people since last year could run for years.
The Tigers are fighting for an independent state in the north and east.

NO PEACE TALKS
Thamilselvan said the Tigers had no faith in a cross-party bid to forge a consensus devolution proposal for minority Tamils, and said they could not talk peace with the current president, who has repeatedly said he is open to talks at any time while forging ahead with military offensives.
"After closing all the avenues for the other party to participate in meaningful negotiations, the government inviting (us) to attend talks is meaningless," Thamilselvan added.
"Peace is not possible with this president, because during this president's term we find a euphoria, celebration, jubilation over the so-called victory in the east. Under such a person peace is not always possible."
Thamilselvan called on foreign powers to force the government to honour the terms of a 2002 ceasefire pact which has broken down on the ground.
Rajapaksa's government has vowed to continue with its drive to destroy all Tiger military assets, and analysts say the focus of fighting is now shifting to the far north, which is largely controlled by Tiger rebels.
Rebels say they will use all of their arsenal -- which includes suicide bombers and light aircraft that they smuggled into the country in pieces and reassembled -- to battle on.
"Let the Tamil people live in their traditional homeland," Thamilselvan said. "Leave the Tamil people without any military occupation or persecution. That will be the day there is no war."

Cut off the Tigers
Washington Times- Editorial 13 July 2007

A group of congressmen is urging the Bush administration to increase its involvement in Sri Lanka. A recent letter from Reps. David Price and Rush Holt and 48 other congressional Democrats and Republicans to President Bush calls on the administration to step up diplomatic engagement in order to help the small island nation reach a long-term peace with the terrorist rebel group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Noting "a pressing need for a more concerted effort by the international community to bring both sides back to the negotiating table," the congressmen conclude that the United States "has the opportunity to serve as a leader of such a renewed international effort."

The protracted conflict dates back more than three decades and has cost more than 60,000 lives. A 2002 ceasefire brokered by Norway fell apart last year, although it became clear that the Tamil Tigers had used the break from fighting to re-arm. Fighting has escalated, as the Sri Lankan military claims to have at last beaten the rebels out of the east, which, along with the north, has been a Tamil Tiger stronghold.

Neither side, unfortunately, can boast a morally impeccable record. The congressional letter also calls on the Sri Lankan government to end the use of extrajudicial killings and disappearances in the government controlled areas. To its credit, Sri Lanka has made efforts to address this issue by creating a special commission, which, in sharp contrast to the Tamil Tiger organization, operates under the scrutiny of international observation. "When credible evidence is available," wrote Sri Lankan Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke in a letter to Mr. Holt, "the government has taken steps to serve indictments on army and police personnel." Ten indictments were handed down against security and police forces in 2006 and 10 in 2007, according to the ambassador.

What human-rights violations the government may have to answer for, however, pale in comparison to the barbarity of the Tamil Tigers, who pioneered the use of the suicide bomb and have a track record of kidnapping children and turning them into soldiers. Human-rights issues will continue to be a concern until a genuine and lasting peace can be forged, and the United States can play a significant role in facilitating this by targeting and breaking up Tamil Tiger fund-raising networks in the United States, and working with Canada and the European Union to disrupt the Tigers' financial networks there as well. These networks, which according to Human Rights Watch rely on "intimidation, extortion, and physical violence," are critical to the Tigers' ability to perpetuate their terrorist campaign, and disrupting the flow of money to the terrorist group is an important step toward forcing its leadership back to the negotiating table.

Sri Lankan national held
The Hindu-Staff Reporter

RAMANATHAPURAM: In a late night operation on Tuesday, the ‘Q’ Branch police arrested Ungu alias Jeyaratnam, a Sri Lankan national, from Seeniappa Dharga near here.
A clandestine ferry service operator and smuggler who has been absconding for several years, he has been charged under the Passport Act. Ungu alias Jeyaratnam (39), son of Vediramu of Pesalai in Mannar district, was seen near the shore in a suspicious manner when a team of Q Branch personnel were patrolling there. He started running when they approached him but was overpowered. P. Mahendran, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Q Branch, told The Hindu that Jeyaratnam was an agent for transporting refugees.
He owned two fibreglass boats and had ferried more than 15,000 refugees from Sri Lanka to India since 1997, according to a rough estimate.