Trapped Tamil leaders shot in surrender bid

COLOMBO - The efforts of two senior Tamil Tiger leaders trapped in the war zone to save their lives were revealed yesterday as it emerged they were shot dead as they prepared to surrender to Sri Lankan Government forces.

In a flurry of emails, text messages and telephone calls that passed between NGOs, a foreign Government and Sri Lankan officials in Colombo, the two LTTE political leaders frantically inquired how they could give themselves up.

They were told: "Get a piece of white cloth, put up your hands and walk towards the other side in a non-threatening manner."

But the attempt to surrender by Balasingham Nadesan, head of the LTTE's political wing, and Seevaratnam Pulidevan, who led the rebels' peace secretariat, failed.

Some time on May 18 and the early hours of the next morning, the two men were shot dead. LTTE officials overseas claim the two men were killed by Government troops as they approached them bearing a white flag.

The Sri Lankan Government has suggested the two men might have been shot dead by LTTE fighters, angry at them fleeing the conflict zone.

Over the weekend, Nadesan and Pulidevan sent out messages, indicating that they wished to surrender to a third party - namely the International Committee of the Red Cross, the only aid organisation with access to the conflict zone.

The chief intermediary for the two men was the Norwegian Government's Environment Minister, Erik Solheim, who led efforts to broker a ceasefire in 2002. On May 17, Solheim apparently received calls from LTTE figures who said they wanted to surrender.

Trine Eskedal, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo, said: "The minister said he spoke with Mr Pulidevan at midnight, who gave him the message that the political leaders wanted to surrender [to the ICRC]. At the time he could hear gunshots in the background." She said that an official, then contacted the ICRC and the Sri Lankan Government.

The ICRC confirmed that it had received word from the Norwegians that the two leaders were looking to give themselves up.

The Government's point man in the negotiations appears to have been Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona. He said that he had received a number of messages indicating that Nadesan and Pulidevan wanted a way out.

Kohona said his response had been that "there was only one way to surrender that is recognised by military practice". He said they should obtain a white flag and give themselves up. "I kept saying this for three days."

He produced a text message stored on his phone which he had sent to the NGO 16 hours before the Norwegian minister had his final conversation with the LTTE leaders.

It read: "Just walk across to the troops, slowly! With a white flag and comply with instructions carefully. The soldiers are nervous about suicide bombers."

What is clear is that the situation inside the war zone had become desperate. During the day, squeezed into a strip of land measuring just a few hundred square metres, the remaining LTTE fighters tried to lay down their arms to secure a ceasefire.

This was rejected by the Government and later some of the rebels attempted a series of suicide attacks on the advancing troops.

It was in these circumstances that the two political leaders - trapped, hopeless and with no other options - made their final desperate attempt to save their lives.

- INDEPENDENT