Sri Lanka warns Tamil Tiger rebels could regroup

The Sri Lankan government on Monday warned that the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels could re-group and pose a threat to the island nation.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith Perera told reporters in the capital Colombo that even though the rebels, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), had been defeated on the ground, there was a "real danger" of the outfit trying to regroup.

The LTTE was defeated by the Sri Lankan army in May 2009, putting an end to a 30-year civil conflict which took the lives of thousands and completely crippled the north and east of the country. LTTE Leader V.Prabhakaran and other senior Tamil Tiger rebels were all killed in the final days of the battle in the northern part of the island.

"Even though they have been defeated on the ground, there is a real danger of their trying to regroup," the deputy minister said.

"Their front organizations operate businesses abroad, they run petrol stations, supermarkets and have shipping companies," he said.

Perera further said that the EU last week placed the LTTE back on its terror list following a request last year by Sri Lanka's current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, after a European court had ordered the LTTE's removal from the blacklist.

"The European Union took the action following a request from our prime minister in November," Perera said.

Wickremesinghe had written to the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini last November urging the EU to file an appeal against the EU court order on the Tamil Tigers.

The judgment of the General Court of the European Union last year had annulled measures taken by the Council of the European Union against the Tamil Tigers, namely its designation as a terrorist organization and the freezing of their funds. The council however later decided to appeal the judgment. Endi