US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO1419

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001419 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA, H(NOTTINGHAM) 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  08-13-13 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, PREF, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  SFRC Staffer Blank's visit to Sri Lanka 
 
Refs:  Colombo 1399, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Charge' 
d'Affaires.  Reasons 1.5 (b, d). 
 
SUMMARY 
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1.  (C) During his recent visit, SFRC staffer Dr. Jonah 
Blank traveled throughout Sri Lanka, with stops in 
Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, and Trincomalee.  In meetings 
with Blank, GSL officials expressed general optimism 
about the peace process.  Contacts in the south, 
however, expressed concern about Tiger activities. 
Those from the war-torn north/east noted the magnitude 
of the rehabilitation challenge and underscored the need 
for ethnic reconciliation.  Overall, while everyone 
admitted that the situation was fragile, there was a 
strong feeling that Sri Lanka had come a long way from 
the dark days of the war and must not reverse course. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
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A Wide-ranging Visit 
-------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) Dr. Jonah Blank, Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee senior policy advisor on South Asia 
(Minority), visited Sri Lanka August 3-10 to obtain an 
on-the-ground understanding of island-wide views on the 
peace process.  During his comprehensive trip, Dr. Blank 
and emboffs held meetings in Colombo, and visited Galle 
in the south, Jaffna in the north, and Trincomalee in 
the east. 
 
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Colombo:  Optimism re the Peace Process 
--------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) During the Colombo set of meetings, Sri Lankan 
government officials were generally optimistic about the 
peace process with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) organization.  Key peace process figures in the 
GSL, such as Ministers G.L. Peiris and Milinda Moragoda, 
indicated that the government's recent interim 
administration proposal for the north/east was the first 
step in getting the LTTE to resume talks.  (Note:  The 
LTTE pulled out of the talks in April 2003.)  Moragoda 
added that the interim administration concept was merely 
a means to an end, not the end itself.  Peiris told 
Blank there was the greatest hope now for progress along 
the peace track.  He tempered his comments, however, by 
reflecting on what he characterized as the Tigers' 
"insecurity," given the group's lack of political 
experience.  A little bit less optimistic than the GSL 
officials, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse expressed 
concern over recent Tiger behavior, and hoped for closer 
peace process consultation between Prime Minister 
Wickremesinghe and President Kumaratunga. 
 
4.  (C) Interlocutors in Colombo also spoke of the 
government's need to manage more effectively public 
expectations regarding the peace process and 
rehabilitation activities.  Norwegian Ambassador Hans 
Brattskar, representing his country's facilitation 
effort, stated that negotiating through the difficult 
issues dividing the GSL and the Tigers would take time. 
The public needed to understand that it all could not 
happen with a flick of a switch.  Moragoda admitted that 
redevelopment and economic measures were difficult to 
manage and hoped that both parties -- the government and 
the LTTE -- would show tangible gains via an active 
rehabilitation and reconstruction program.  Otherwise, 
he continued, public frustration over lack of economic 
and material progress could increase to the detriment of 
the peace track. 
 
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Galle:  Worries about the LTTE 
------------------------------ 
 
5.  (C) During meetings in the southern, Sinhalese- 
majority city of Galle, government officials as well as 
university interlocutors expressed some concerns about 
the direction of the peace process.  Citing deep 
distrust of the LTTE, Governor of the Western Province 
(where Colombo is located) Kingsley Wickramamaratne, a 
nominee of President Kumaratunga, expressed the need for 
enhanced U.S. and Indian involvement in the peace 
process to counter a pattern of aggressive LTTE 
activities.  In a meeting with officials of Ruhuna 
University, professors emphasized the moderating 
influence the U.S. had played on the LTTE since the 
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.  Dean of Medicine 
Susurith Mendis remarked that since the LTTE were now 
negotiating from a position of strength in that it was 
already exerting a high degree of influence in the 
north/east, it would be more difficult to convince the 
Tigers to return to negotiations.  Despite their worries 
about the LTTE, all interlocutors urged a return to 
negotiations, while emphasizing the need for closer 
dialogue between the prime minister and the president. 
 
6.  (C) While noting that the north/east had suffered 
devastating losses in terms of infrastructure, contacts 
also underscored the need for rehabilitation island- 
wide.  Touching on the popular notion in the south that 
all assistance was being funneled to the north/east, 
local officials noted high unemployment rates in the 
Galle District and a general need for revitalization in 
the south. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Jaffna:  Facing the Rehabilitation Challenge 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (C) In the one-day visit to Jaffna, the U.S. team 
observed a bustling downtown marketplace and indications 
of road repair around the war-torn Peninsula.  People 
seemed most concerned with restoring their daily lives, 
despite the looming specter of the Tamil Tigers, who 
were exercising a significant "shadow" influence on the 
situation in Jaffna. 
 
8.  (C) Rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Jaffna 
area seemed to be the first item on interlocutor's 
minds.  While declining to comment on the peace process 
(perhaps because he was scared of LTTE reprisals), C. 
Pathmanathan, the Government Agent (GA) for Jaffna, for 
example, instead focused optimistically on the presence 
of the international community's aid projects.  NGO 
representatives and the GA spoke about the need to 
rebuild housing and restore basic services, but placed a 
spotlight on the difficulties of the situation.  The GA 
lamented that thousands of Jaffna residents had fled the 
district in the last two decades, saying that only a 
minimal community social structure remained today.  This 
factor had decimated the technical capacity of the 
area's residents.  International aid workers concurred 
that the community lacked the necessary labor and trade 
skills to help itself, and thus was reliant on outside 
assistance.  NGO contacts also mentioned the practical 
challenges faced by many Internally Displaced Person 
(IDP) returnees prevented from regaining lost 
properties, as their land was within GSL security zones, 
which covered roughly 20 percent of the land in the 
district. 
 
9.  (C) In a rare opportunity for U.S. officials, the 
team drove through the LTTE-controlled Vanni region 
during its drive from Jaffna to the eastern town of 
Trincomalee. Traveling the north/south "A9" road, there 
were some signs of development in the Vanni as well. 
Along the "A9," yellow string edged the roadside where 
Humanitarian Demining Unit (HDU) deminers had begun 
clearing land.  (Note:  HDU is the demining arm of the 
pro-LTTE Tamil Rehabilitation Organization.)  In places 
less jeopardized by landmines, repaving of the A9 road 
was underway.  In the LTTE administrative center of 
Kilinochchi, a brand new building stood next to placards 
for `proposed' school and hospital building sites.  The 
team also spotted several LTTE cadre, including one 
apparently from the infamous Black Tiger suicide squad, 
strolling in Kilinochchi along with white-uniformed 
school children and local residents going about their 
morning business. 
 
---------------------------- 
Trincomalee:  A Mix of Views 
---------------------------- 
 
10.  (C) In Trincomalee, the dividends of peace were 
readily apparent.  During the U.S. team's one-day stay, 
the two large local hotels were fully booked as visiting 
Sri Lankans and foreigners took advantage of 
Trincomalee's beaches.  The town itself also seemed to 
be booming, with many new stores opened up and new 
building sites scattered around.  Not all was fun and 
sun along Trincomalee's marketplace and fish stalls, 
however, as the delegation observed radical Janantha 
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) posters criticizing the 
government's peace process efforts. 
 
11.  (C) A meeting at the local Sri Lanka Monitoring 
Mission (SLMM) office revealed the extent of 
reconciliation challenges that lay ahead in the 
ethnically-mixed Trincomalee area:  in addition to 
mediating between the LTTE and GSL, fishermen and other 
groups also approached the SLMM to report problems they 
were having with both sides.  There were many tensions 
between the Tamil and Muslim communities over land and 
LTTE harassment.  Re the LTTE-GSL military relationship, 
however, the SLMM stated that confrontations seemed to 
be decreasing over time and many local military 
officials were intent on strengthening communication 
lines -- via the SLMM -- with the Tigers.  While NGO 
interlocutors highlighted their community rebuilding 
activities, they noted that redevelopment progress 
occurred in the shadow of a strong -- and sometimes 
threatening -- LTTE presence.  (Note:  In Trincomalee, 
the team also discussed the issue of the LTTE's 
continuing refusal to vacate a camp in the district in 
spite of the SLMM's repeated requests -- see Reftels.) 
 
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COMMENT 
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12.  (C) Dr. Blank's visit was wide-ranging in its scope 
and provided an excellent snapshot of the situation in 
Sri Lanka roughly 18 months after the advent of the 
peace process.  Despite the many distinct strands in the 
current situation, there was an overall feeling that Sri 
Lanka had come a long way from the dark days of the war 
and must not reverse course.  Given the pattern of 
aggressive LTTE activities, however, contacts expressed 
no certainty whether the current situation was 
permanent, or whether it was merely an interregnum in a 
longer war.  END COMMENT. 
 
13.  (U) Dr. Blank departed Colombo before he could 
clear this cable. 
 
14.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
ENTWISTLE