EU to put Tamil Tigers on its terror list on Monday

Lankan Govt has been urging the EU to announce the ban, saying that it would probably help force the rebels to the negotiating table.

The European Union is expected to put Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers on its list of terrorist groups next week, a spokesman for the EU's Austrian presidency said on Saturday.

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The EU move, agreed in principle on May 18, is an item on the agenda of a meeting of the 25-member bloc's ministers in Brussels on Monday, he said.

It means that the assets of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be frozen but more importantly it will cut off vital funds being sent to the rebels by members of the Tamil diaspora in Europe.

The move also provides for special EU cooperation measures to combat the group.

The Sri Lankan government has been urging the EU to announce the ban, saying that it would probably help force the rebels to the negotiating table.

The Union's blacklist was drawn up late in 2001, following the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington and is revised regularly. The Palestinian group Hamas and the former Basque separatist party Batasuna are on it.