US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO1989

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001989 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS; NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC 
 
E.O. 12958:   DECL: 11-18-13 
TAGS: PGOV, PINS, CE, Political Parties 
SUBJECT:  President, PM agree to appoint committee to 
deal with "national issues" 
 
Refs:  (A) Colombo/OpsCenter 11/18/03 telecon 
 
-      (B) Colombo 1984, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1. (SBU) On November 18, President Kumaratunga and Prime 
Minister Wickremesinghe met to discuss possible ways out 
of the political morass precipitated by the President's 
November 4 takeover of three key ministries and 
suspension of Parliament.  This was their second face- 
to-face meeting since the crisis began (see Ref B). 
According to a joint press statement issued after 
today's meeting (see Para three for the text), the 
President and PM agreed to appoint a "Committee of 
Officials" to work out arrangements whereby the 
President and PM could work together on "important 
national issues."  The "Committee of Officials" 
mentioned in the joint statement appears to be related 
to the "consultative" or "peace" committee discussed by 
both the President and the PM in their separate recent 
meetings with the Ambassador (see Ref B).  The statement 
also mentions that the President and the PM are slated 
to meet again in two weeks.  Economic Reform Minister 
Milinda Moragoda told the Ambassador later in the day 
that the committee will have four members:  Bradman 
Weerakoon and United National Party (UNP) chairman Malik 
Samarawickreme will represent the PM; Mano Tittawella 
and W.J.S. Karunaratne will be across the table. 
 
2.  (C) COMMENT:  The two parties' agreement to appoint 
a committee to work on important issues appears on the 
face of it to be a positive sign, as is the announcement 
that the President and the PM plan to meet again in two 
weeks.  It seems as if both sides are trying to ratchet 
down temperatures, which is certainly good news.  That 
said, with Parliament scheduled to meet tomorrow 
(November 19) for the first time since it was suspended 
on November 4, it is possible that intra-party friction 
could quickly spike again.  In addition, although the 
two sides may have agreed to a mechanism for discussing 
their differences, they do not seem closer to actually 
solving who controls what ministries and how to handle 
the peace process.  END COMMENT. 
 
3.  (U) The statement, which was issued in the names of 
the Secretaries to the President, W.J.S. Karunaratne, 
and the PM, Bradman Weerakoon, reads as follows: 
 
BEGIN TEXT 
 
The President and the Prime Minister met today at the 
President's House and discussed in depth several issues 
on which they could work together. The discussion 
commenced at 11.15 am and concluded at 12.45 pm. The 
President and Prime Minister were assisted by W.J.S 
Karunaratne, Secretary to the President, Bradman 
Weerakoon, Secretary to the Prime Minister and Mano 
Tittawella, Senior Adviser to the President and Senior 
Director General to the President's Office. 
 
A Committee of Officials was appointed to work out the 
details of future working arrangements under which the 
President and the Prime Minister could work together on 
these important national issues. It was also decided 
that the President and the Prime Minister would meet 
again in two weeks to move the process forward. 
 
Secretary/ President Secretary/Prime Minister 18th 
 
SIPDIS 
November 2003 
 
END TEXT. 
 
4. (U) Minimize considered. 
 
 LUNSTEAD