US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO69

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000069 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA, S/CT; 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC 
 
E.O. 12958:    DECL: 01-13-14 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINR, PINS, KPAO, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: Tigers say they still support ceasefire accord, 
but signal their impatience with impasse in Colombo 
 
Refs:  Colombo 54, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  In the wake of the recent controversy 
over the PM's remarks about the ceasefire accord, Tiger 
officials have publicly reaffirmed their support for the 
ceasefire and the peace process.  The Tigers and pro- 
Tiger elements have expressed a significant degree of 
impatience with the cohabitation impasse in Colombo, 
however.  In the meantime, the Tigers have been engaging 
in some rough behavior on-the-ground.  Through their 
latest pronouncements, the Tigers are pretty clearly 
veering away from their previous "charm offensive"-mode 
in order to underline their exasperation with the south. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
LTTE Says It Still Supports Ceasefire 
------------------------------------- 
2.  (C) High-level Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) officials have recently underscored the group's 
continued support for the ceasefire agreement that it 
signed with the Sri Lankan government in February 2002. 
The comments come in the wake of recent remarks by Prime 
Minister Wickremesinghe to the effect that President 
Kumaratunga should take over responsibility for the 
ceasefire accord as long as she controls the Defense 
Ministry (see Reftels).  Recent comments by the Tigers 
on this matter include: 
 
-- On January 12, in an interview with Reuters, Tiger 
political chief S.P. Thamilchelvam said the LTTE still 
supported the ceasefire accord, adding that "there is a 
resolute commitment by the Liberation Tigers 
organization that the Liberation Tigers will not be the 
ones to commence it (hostilities)."  Adding that the 
Tigers were ready to commence negotiations with either 
the President or the Prime Minister, Thamilchelvam also 
stated, "It does not matter if it is the executive 
president or the legislative prime minister, it is only 
the power that the person holds, the mandate the person 
holds." 
 
-- Echoing Thamilchelvam's comments regarding the LTTE's 
support for the ceasefire agreement, Tiger spokesman 
Daya Master was quoted on January 11 as stating that 
"under no circumstances" would the Tigers violate the 
ceasefire and go back to war. 
 
Group Concerned re Situation in South, However 
--------------------------------------------- 
3.  (C) While both Thamilchelvam and Daya Master 
expressed their support for the ceasefire accord, they 
also noted their concerns with the political situation 
in the south.  Thamilchelvam, for example, emphasized 
that the Tamils are becoming impatient with the 
political impasse in the south.  In semi-threatening 
tones, he went on to state:  "It depends on the 
government and the military machine of the government to 
ensure that the Tamil people are not pushed towards such 
a situation to take up arms ever again."  For his part, 
Daya Master noted that the Tigers were "closely 
monitoring" the situation in the south. 
 
4.  (C) There have been other signals of dissonance 
about the situation in the south emerging from Tiger and 
pro-Tiger elements of late.  These include: 
 
-- On January 13, the LTTE's "Peace Secretariat" website 
carried a report stating that the "people's 
organizations in the Jaffna Peninsula" had passed a 
resolution to observe February 4 (which is Sri Lanka's 
national day) as a "black day and a day of mourning." 
The LTTE has sponsored this type of anti-government 
protest on Sri Lanka's independence day in the past. 
-- On January 11, the pro-LTTE website "TamilNet" 
carried coverage of a leaflet issued in Jaffna stating 
that "war would be inevitable if Sri Lankan leaders 
insidiously reject the LTTE's Interim Self Governing 
Authority (ISGA) proposal and if they consider this 
peace period as a time to cheat."  The leaflet, issued 
by an organization called the "Tamil National Awareness 
Movement," went on to blame President Kumaratunga and 
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe for the "current impasse 
in the peace process."  It is not known who is 
responsible for the leaflet (the "Tamil National 
Awareness Movement" is not a known group), but its 
distribution was almost certainly approved by the LTTE 
given the group's high degree of influence in Jaffna 
District. 
 
-- Also on January 11, the local English-medium SUNDAY 
LEADER newspaper carried an interview with Joseph 
Pararajasingham, MP for the eastern town of Batticaloa 
and senior vice-president of the pro-LTTE Tamil United 
Liberation Front (TULF).  Queried as to his position on 
the impasse between the President and the PM, 
Pararajasingham said "the country in general will suffer 
immensely" if the crisis was not resolved. 
Pararajasingham added that he did not see signs that 
hostilities would resume "in the immediate future." 
He noted, however, that the LTTE was committed "to 
counter(ing) any military attack" and that there was 
" a limit for tolerance, even on the part of the LTTE." 
 
-- On January 5, senior Tiger official V. Balakumaran 
(he is an adviser to V. Prabhakaran, the LTTE leader), 
speaking at an event in Jaffna, said "our expectations 
of resuming peace talks with the government of Sri Lanka 
under a united leadership with clear authority to 
command Sri Lanka's security forces are fast receding." 
Turning to the political situation in the south, 
Balakumaran averred that "although the majority of 
Sinhala people want their politicians to unite to 
resolve the debilitating political crisis, the extremist 
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Sihala Urumaya (SU) 
will continue to impede progress towards reconciliation 
among Sinhala leaders." 
 
-- On January 4, the pro-Tiger All Ceylon Tamil Congress 
(ACTC) declared at its annual convention held in the 
northern city of Jaffna that "the Tamil people will have 
to exercise their right to self determination and secede 
if the political impasse in Colombo were to continue," 
according to a posting on the "TamilNet" website. 
 
Some Rough Behavior by the Tigers 
--------------------------------- 
5.  (C) Although the Tigers have basically been 
restrained in their actions since the cohabitation 
impasse began in November 2003, the group has been 
engaging in some rough behavior on-the-ground of late. 
Recent Tiger actions have included: 
 
-- On January 6, near the eastern port city of 
Trincomalee, two monitors from the Sri Lanka Monitoring 
Mission (SLMM) were detained by armed LTTE cadres for 
approximately four hours.  The SLMM has lodged a protest 
with the Tigers over the incident.  SLMM spokeswoman 
Agnes Bragadottir told poloff on January 12 that her 
organization considered the LTTE's action "a truce 
violation."  She added, however, that the SLMM had not 
yet issued a final ruling on the matter.  On January 13, 
the Tigers, via a report on TamilNet, said there was "no 
truth" to the SLMM's charge that the monitors had been 
detained, and that the Tigers were "shocked and 
dismayed" at a SLMM statement to the media concerning 
the matter.  In response to the Tigers' sharp statement, 
the SLMM has told us that it plans to continue to 
investigate the incident. 
 
-- Bragadottir also told poloff that the SLMM was 
examining allegations that the LTTE had threatened the 
life of the new Sri Lanka Army commander of Jaffna, 
Major General Susil Chandrapala.  If the charges are 
true, Bragadottir said, the SLMM might hold that the 
LTTE has violated the ceasefire. 
 
-- On January 5, the Sri Lanka Army lodged a formal 
complaint with the SLMM, charging that the Tigers had 
erected a monument to fallen cadre within a government- 
controlled area located in the Jaffna Peninsula.  As of 
January 13, the SLMM had not yet ruled on the matter and 
the LTTE monument remained in place. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
6.  (C) Through their latest pronouncements, the Tigers 
are pretty clearly veering away from the "charm 
offensive"-mode they have been in since the latest round 
of cohabitation jousting began in November 2003.  They 
now clearly want to underline their exasperation with 
the south.  At the same time, in what is clearly a 
balancing act, they want to stress that they remain on 
board with the peace process.  (As we reported 
yesterday, the LTTE has invited donors to a meeting in 
Kilinochchi, a city in the Tiger-controlled Vanni region 
in the north, next week -- we have declined.)  Given the 
Tigers' growing impatience with the cohabitation 
situation, our guess is that the risks for the peace 
process -- while small now -- will continue to rise the 
longer the situation in Colombo remains unhinged.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
7.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
LUNSTEAD