Lanka bans Tamil rebel 'front'

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 yesterday.
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.
The United States last week froze TRO assets after accusing the charity of providing financial support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at home.
The US Treasury designated the TRO a group that raises money for the rebels which Washington branded a terrorist organisation from October 1997.