| LTTE'S VERSION OF THE SITUATION By Peter Apps KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, May 9 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is moving to the fringes of a new civil war, Tamil Tiger rebels said on Tuesday, saying peace talks were off and accusing the government of faking rebel attacks to justify "genocide". Most diplomats say the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) kick-started recent violence with attacks on troops and a suicide attack on army headquarters that sparked riots, air strikes and ethnic murders. But the rebels say the government is at fault. "The island is moving towards the fringes of war because the government is actively engaged in a genocidal campaign against Tamil civilians," rebel political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan told Reuters in an interview in the de facto rebel capital. Both the Tigers and the government say they want peace, but more than 200 people, many of them minority Tamils, have been killed since early April and many fear the 2002 ceasefire will fail and a two-decade civil war will resume. The rebels, who control roughly a seventh of the island and who ultimately want a Tamil homeland in the north and east, deny being behind recent attacks. Until recently, they blamed "angry Tamil civilians" for mine attacks on the military. Few diplomats or analysts believed that. The Tigers now say recent attacks, including a blast that wounded the army commander, were carried out by the state. "The international community should learn to distinguish facts from fabrication," Thamilselvan said shortly after meeting Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi. "State terrorism needs a justification. The state machinery creates these patterns to apportion blame on the LTTE." The Tigers last month pulled out indefinitely from talks due to take place in Geneva. The rebels are angry the government did not deliver on pledges to disarm other Tamil armed groups -- a reference to ex-rebels the Karuna group, who attack the mainstream LTTE in the east. The government says it has not found any armed groups to disarm. The Tigers also say killings of Tamil civilians by the military must stop if violence is to cease. The military deny any involvement in killings. LITTLE HOPE "If the government is serious, they would definitely try to bring about a change," said Thamilselvan. "Any miraculous happening like that would put an end to the violence. But what is happening on the ground shows that is not happening." Thamilselvan said Akashi had stressed that coming to Geneva talks would give them an opportunity to air their grievances. But he said talks could not happen until eastern rebel leaders were bought to Kilinochchi for a central committee meeting. That issue has dominated the peace process for the last month. The government refused to provide a military helicopter, but has now offered a seaplane. All looked resolved, but now the rebels say they want to carry sidearms. The government says that cannot be permitted in the post Sept. 11 world. The only thing that had stopped the Tigers from retaliating after recent air strikes was respect for the international community, he said. But warnings the European Union might list the LTTE alongside al Qaeda as a banned terrorist group would not force them to the table, he said. "The threat of a ban will not sway the LTTE," he said. "The international community is not that naive to give in to pressure from Colombo. Identifying a rogue state like (Sri Lanka) is not a difficult thing to do." REUTERS, 9.10.2006 |