Sri Lanka to ban Tamil rebel 'front'

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COLOMBO, Nov 22 (AFP): Sri Lanka's government is to outlaw a charity believed to be a front organisation for separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, media minister Anura Yapa said Thursday.
Ministers met Wednesday and decided to proscribe the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) whose bank accounts were frozen by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka last year, he said.
"The cabinet decided yesterday to ban the TRO and also ask other governments to do the same," Yapa said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hussain Baila said Colombo was asking United Nations bodies and other international charities to stop dealing with the TRO which is also involved in relief operations inside rebel- held territory.
"We are asking organisations like UNICEF and other UN agencies to stop dealing with the TRO," Baila said.
He declined to say how much foreign funding was channelled through the TRO which proved a key charity operating in rebel-held areas following the December 2004 tsunami.
Sri Lanka's government was drafting new regulations to put Wednesday's cabinet decision to ban the TRO into effect.
The United States last week froze TRO assets after accusing the charity of providing financial support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The US Treasury designated the TRO a group that raises money for the rebels which Washington branded a terrorist organisation from October 1997.