Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 



Origins

After gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, the Sinhalese-led Sri Lankan government adopted measures that were viewed as disadvantageous to the Tamil-minority communities. These measures are cited as the root causes behind the formation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In particular, the following three policies are often cited: first, the coming into force of a law in 1956 that made Sinhala, the Sinhalese majority's natural language, the country's sole official language (Tamil, the natural language of the Tamil minority was denied any importance); Secondly, State-sponsored policy, starting in 1956, of Sinhalese farmers’ resettlement in the Tamil-dominated Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka; and thirdly, the fact that the National Constitution, adopted in 1972, made Buddhism the national religion; Buddhism is the religion practiced by most of the Sinhalese majority, while the large majority of the Tamils practice Hinduism. Among the several Tamil movements that arose to vindicate Tamil community rights, the LTTE was formed in 1972 under the name of the Tamil New Tigers (TNT). However, it was not until 1975 that it started its armed campaign, including the assassination of the Mayor of Jaffna, A.T. Duraiyappah on 27 July 1975. Since 1976, the group has been known as the LTTE.

 

Location / Main area of operation

Although the LTTE’s armed activities have mostly taken place in the northern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka, it has also carried out violent actions in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, and others parts of the south of the country. Furthermore, the LTTE exercises de facto control over large parts of Sri Lanka’s north to the extent that it collects “taxes” and has established its own law courts, administrative offices, as well as television and radio broadcasting facilities.


Objectives

The LTTE’s historical objective has been the creation of an independent Tamil state, Eelam, in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, during the 2002 peace talks, there was an important shift in this respect as the LTTE’s leaders conceded that the movement was prepared to accept regional autonomy, rather than total independence for these areas of the country. However, it must be noted that in its 22 February 2007 statement, in which the LTTE declared that the 22 February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement “had been rendered meaningless”, the creation of an independent state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka was again mentioned as the movement’s main goal.

Number of Members


Most analysts estimate the number of the LTTE’s combatant members to be between 7,000 and 11,000.

Type : National

The LTTE is a national non-state armed group since its military actions have largely taken place in Sri Lanka’s territory. Additionally, the origins and development of the group have been mainly linked to that country.

Conflict Status : Active

Although neither the Sri Lankan Government nor the LTTE has withdrawn from the 22 February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement as required under its terms the conflict recommenced towards the end of 2005 and has continued since. Specifically, following Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaske's rise to power in November 2005, several claymore mines exploded in the northern part of the country causing the death of several soldiers; in addition, an unsuccessful suicide attack was attempted on the army commander, Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka. These acts of violence were followed by air attacks and artillery barrages by the Sri Lanka army and later, by further attacks from both sides.

Despite this deteriorated situation, two rounds of talks were held in February and October of 2006; both of which failed. The major point of contention during the 2006 October talks was the reopening of the A-9 highway linking the Jaffna peninsula with the mainland; which the LTTE supported but the government opposed due to security reasons.

Since September 2006 intense hostilities have taken place between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces in eastern areas of the country. In particular, it has been reported that the Sri Lankan armed forces have made advances in previously LTTE-dominated areas in the east of the country, leading to a shift in the front lines.

According to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which was created by the 22 February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement to inquire and report on violations of the parties to such an agreement, about 4,000 people lost their lives, a large number of persons were injured and thousands were displaced as a result of incidents connected to the Sri Lankan armed conflict occurred from the final months of 2005 to February 2007.

In addition to the escalation of military confrontations between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces, analysts have pointed out to the following factors which have prevented the parties from reaching a definitive agreement during the five years of the ceasefire agreement: first, the parties’ differences as to the LTTE’s demands for self-rule in the eastern and northern parts of the country; second, the LTTE’s allegations of the Sri Lankan government’s purported support to the LTTE’s dissidence formed in March 2004 under the leadership of Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (alias ‘Colonel’ Karuna) ; third, the LTTE’s inclusion in the European Union's list of terrorist organizations that led to the movement’s refusal to co-operate with EU ceasefire monitors on the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM); and lastly, several inter-party political struggles that took place within the Sinhalese majority.



 

Structure of the organization

The LTTE is divided in two wings: the military and the political; both being under the control of a Central Committee. It is reported that the group’s military wing includes intelligence and elite fighting groups, as well as land, naval, and most recently, air capabilities.

Additionally, the LTTE created a judiciary branch and in 1991, a police force present in LTTE-controlled areas.

It is reported that the LTEE also has departments dealing with health and educational issues and a Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights, which represents the group before international human rights organisations, keeps a record of human rights violations and which may intervene in such cases. The LTTE Central Committee has also established an international Secretariat.

 

Leadership

The LTTE’s chief is Velupillai Prabhakaran, who is the head of the Central Committee and the movement’s military wing. S.P. Tamilchelvan also holds a part in the LTTE leadership; while, Anton Balasingham, who passed away in December 2006, was formerly responsible for the LTTE political matters.

External aid/Third party involvement

According to the report of the Commission appointed to investigate the events surrounding Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, both the Indian Tamil Nadu’s provincial and central governments gave support to several Tamil armed groups, including the LTTE. Nevertheless, the duration of the support by these two actors significantly differed: while most sources state that the Indian central government’s support finished on 10 October 1987 when the Indian Army was sent to Sri Lanka’s Jaffna and Trincomalee areas with orders to occupy the area by force, the support from the provincial government of Tamil Nadu reportedly continued after that deployment took place.

According to several analysts, Indian support went as far as training and arming several Tamil armed groups, including the LTTE. Specifically, commentators state that Indian central government gave such support during the first years of 1980s through its foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). However, India denied such accusations. Currently, there is no credible information regarding external aid being provided to the LTTE.
 

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

Since its beginning, the Sri Lankan armed conflict has produced considerable refugee flows. On 2 November 1987, a UNHCR office was created in the country to help the estimated 100,000 refugees, then in India, return to Sri Lanka.

According to UNHCR statistics, around one million people have left Sri Lanka since the beginning of the conflict. Furthermore, UNHCR statistics show that the refugee population coming from Sri Lanka between 1995 and 2004 remained high, estimated as being above 100,000 people every year. The main destinations of Sri Lanka refugees have been Europe, North America, Australia and neighbouring India. With respect to this latter country, it is worth noting that in 2003 there was an estimate of 64, 000 Sri Lankan refugees in Indian camps. With respect to recent trends, while the number of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers has gradually declined since 2000, Sri Lankans continue to be within the 10 largest groups of asylum-seekers in the world.

 

Funding

Analysts concur that most of the LTTE’s funding comes from the Tamil diaspora, composed of about one million people and mainly located in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, the UK, the US and Scandinavian countries. This is most likely a partial explanation to the LTTE’s strong reaction to its proscription as a terrorist organization by the European Union and Canada after the September 2001 attacks in the U.S as this label has considerable affected its ability to raise funds in those countries. According to a March 2006 Human Rights Watch Report, while many members of the Tamil diaspora have voluntarily provided funds to the LTTE, others have been subject to pressure or threats. In addition, certain analysts state that the LTTE also obtains funds from legitimate businesses around the world, and illegal trades such as human and drug trafficking.

 

Relationship with the international community

The Nordic States, Norway in particular, have played an important role in the peace efforts in the Sri Lankan armed conflict. Specifically, the 22 February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement was brokered by Norwegian facilitators. Additionally, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission of the same agreement was comprised of representatives from the Nordic countries.

Moreover, it must be noted that in August 2003 the governments of Sri Lanka and the LTTE signed the Action Plan for Children Affected by War, thereby committing themselves to work with UNICEF in order to end the recruitment of children and to release underage recruits already within their respective military ranks. After a 10 day mission to the country in November 2006, Allan Rock, the Special Advisor to the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict on Sri Lanka, found that the LTTE continued recruiting children and failed to release the children within its ranks. Nevertheless, during the visit, the LTTE gave assurances that “it would work with UNICEF to accelerate the release from its ranks of all children under the age of 17, with the objective of completing this process by the beginning of 2007” and that it would provide “better training for its military commanders in relation to recruitment, and institut[e] a process to discipline those who do not comply.”

In addition, the NGO Geneva Call has been engaging the LTTE on the issue of anti-personnel landmines since 2002.

Several governments have designated the LTTE a terrorist organization, especially following the September 2001 attacks in the U.S. In addition to the U.S. Department of State that designated the LTTE in October 1997, the European Union and Canada recently labelled the LTTE as a terrorist group. As mentioned above, the LTTE’s inclusion in the European Union's list of terrorist organizations is considered by analysts as one factor that affected the implementation of the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement as it led to the movement’s refusal to co-operate with EU ceasefire monitors in the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

 

Books

  • Atkins, Stephen E. (2004), “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) (Sri Lanka),” Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), available at link.
  • Balencie, Jean-Marc and De La Grange, Arnaud (2005), Les Nouveaux Mondes rebelles, (Paris: éditions Michalon).
  • Clarance, William (2007), Ethnic Warfare in Sri Lanka and the UN Crisis (London: Pluto Press).
  • Minahan, James (2002), Encyclopedia of the stateless nations: ethnic and national groups around the world (Westport: Greenwood Press).
  • Rudolph, Joseph R. (2003), “Sri Lanka,” Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), available at link.

Articles and Chapters

  • Matthews, Bruce, “In Pursuit of an 'Interim Administration' in Sri Lanka's North and East: Opportunity or 'Peace Trap'?”, in 93.373 The Round Table (2004), at 75-94.
  • Harper, F.J. (2004), “Sri Lanka,” in Bogdan Szajkowski (ed), Revolutionary and Dissident Movements of the World (London: John Harper Publishing), at 454-460.
  • Wickremesekera, Channa (2006), “Peace through Military Parity? The Tamil Tigers and the Government Forces in Sri Lanka,” in Daniel P. Marston et al, A Military History of India and South Asia (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), available at link.
     

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

  • EU Council, Common Position of 27 December 2001 on the Application of Specific Measures to Combat Terrorism, Doc. No. 2001/931/CFSP, Official Journal of the European Communities L 344/93, 28.12.2001.
  • EU Council, Common Position 2006/380/CFSP of 29 May 2006, Official Journal of the European Communities L 144/25, 31.5.2006.
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “After Two Decades of War, Sri Lanka is on the Mend,” 130 Refugees (2004), at 5-15.
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2004 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook, available at
    link
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Background Paper on Refugees and Asylum-Seekers from Sri Lanka, April 2004, available at link
     

Governmental reports

  • Public Safety Canada, Currently Listed Entities, available at link
  • U.S. Department of State, Comprehensive List of Terrorist Organizations and Groups Identified Under Executive Order 13224, Washington D.C., 31 December 2001, available at link
  • U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations List, Fact Sheet Office of Counterterrorism, Washington D.C., 23 October 2002, available at link
  • U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organization Designations Table, Fact Sheet Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Washington D.C., 30 December 2004, available at link
  • U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), Fact Sheet
    Office of Counterterrorism, Washington, D.C., October 11 2005, available at link
  • Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Effort, available at link

     

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations


 

Press Information (in chronological order)

  • “Analysis: Sri Lanka Talks Failure” (E. Anbarasan), BBC News, 30 October 2006, available at link
  • “A Year of Misery and Violence” (E. Anbarasan), BBC News, 20 November 2006, available at link
  • “Enhardie par la victoire, l’armée srilankaise va intensifier la guerre,” Agence France Presse, 21 January 2007.
  • “L’armée srilankaise revendique la prise de trois bases tamoules,” Agence France Presse, 24 February 2007.
  • “Le Sri Lanka replonge dans la terreur,” Libération, 27 February 2007.
  • “Sri Lanka: 19 morts dans d’intenses combats entre l’armée et les rebelles,” Agence France Presse, 21 March 2007.
  • “Sri Lanka: Les grandes dates du conflit depuis 1972,” Agence France Presse, 26 March 2007.
  • “Escalade dans le conflit au Sri Lanka avec le premier raid aérien tamoul,” Agence France Presse, 26 March 2007.
  • “Attentat suicide contre une base militaire sri-lankaise: au moins huit morts,” Agence France Presse, 27 March 2007.

 

Interviews

Internet resources

  • IISS Armed Conflict Database, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTEE), available at link
  • South Asia Terrorist Portal, Sri Lanka, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, available at link
  • National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), available at link
  • Centre for Policy Alternatives, available at link
  • International Centre for Ethnic Studies, available at
    link
  • Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, available at link
  • BBC Sinhala, available at link
  • The Lanka Academic, available at link
     

 

Statements of the armed group

  • Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Statement of 22 February 2007, available at link

 

Agreements involving armed groups

  • Agreement on a Ceasefire Between the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, available at link
  • Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) on the Establishment and Management of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), available at
    link (governmental source)