Role of British diplomats in Tamil leaders' failed surrender bid

• British say involvement was indirect at most
• Two were killed despite cautious negotiations

By Gethin Chamberlain in Colombo and Simon Tisdall
Courtesy: The Guardian(London)

(May 23, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) British diplomats were involved in last- minute attempts to secure the surrender of two of the Tamil Tigers' most senior political figures as the war in Sri Lanka reached its climax, one of the UN's top officials revealed.

The plan backfired spectacularly when the two men were shot dead as they tried to give themselves up to the Sri Lankan army. Balasingham Nadesan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's political leader, and Seevaratnam Pulidevan, head of its peace secretariat, were killed in the early hours of Monday despite the involvement of British officials and the UN secretary general's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, in the delicate negotiations.

Britain insists its involvement was at most indirect. "We made no specific representations on behalf of members of the LTTE but we consistently urged the UN to play an active role in mediating an end to the conflict, including protecting civilian lives," a senior British official said.

While British diplomats were part of a chain of intermediaries between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, sources rubbished suggestions that they had tried directly to negotiate a deal.

Nambiar said he had "direct contact" with British diplomats at the UN in New York and with a British minister, but declined to give further details of the conversations. "There was a ministerial demarche [a formal diplomatic representation] to the secretary general from the UK office in New York," he said.

The initial contact from the LTTE is understood to have been made through a British journalist. "I received a telephone call through the situation centre in New York asking me to convey certain messages to the [Sri Lankan] government," Nambiar said. He said he passed on the information to the Sri Lankan authorities and spoke to the Sri Lankan foreign secretary, Palitha Kohona, about the matter.

But he said the attempts were unsuccessful: "The Sri Lankan government did not say that they would accept the surrender. They said it may be too late."

Sri Lankan officials have previously accused Britain of meddling in the war and of exhibiting pro-Tamil bias. Demonstrations were mounted outside the British high commission in Colombo following a controversial visit by David Miliband, the foreign secretary.

Unlike the Tamil Tigers leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed by government troops on Monday, many of the so-called "civilian members" of the LTTE wanted to hand themselves in. They are also understood to have contacted the Norwegian environment minister, Erik Solheim, who had led previous attempts to broker a ceasefire. He then contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Sri Lankan government.

The Sri Lankan authorities have confirmed that they were aware of the surrender offer and that they had been in contact with an aid organisation which had passed on a number of messages from the LTTE men. A text message from the foreign secretary, Palitha Kohona, to the Red Cross read: "Just walk across to the troops, slowly! With a white flag and comply with instructions carefully. The soldiers are nervous about suicide bombers."

The LTTE's head of international relations, S Pathmanathan, said that the men did so, but were shot by the Sri Lankan soldiers. The Sri Lankan military disputes this, claiming that they had been shot by their own forces.

The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, said to a crowd of thousands at a victory rally: "They wanted to take [us] to international criminal courts. Some are trying to do this even now. But I am not afraid of walking up to any gallows, having defeated the world's worst terrorists."

The first release of official Sri Lankan casualty figures said 6,260 soldiers, sailors and policemen were killed in the latest round of fighting that began in 2006. Nearly 30,000 were wounded.

-Sri Lanka Guardian