US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO328

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000328 
 
SIPDIS 
 
OFFICIAL INFORMAL 
 
FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  02/27/14 
TAGS: AMGT, CE, MV, Human Rights, Elections 
SUBJECT:  OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 031 (02/27/04) 
 
Classified by DCM James F. Entwistle for reasons 1.5 (b) and 
(d). 
 
CONTENTS:  MALDIVES 
           ELECTION ASSISTANCE 
           HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS 
 
MALDIVES 
-------- 
 
1.  (C)  The Ambassador and party report that the Maldives 
trip continues to go well, with a number of interesting 
meetings including with President Gayoom yesterday. 
Meanwhile, on the opposition front, you may see press 
reports that the GSL has ordered MDP organizer Mohammed 
Latheef (with whom we met earlier this week) to leave the 
country next week because he is on some sort of immigration 
"black list."  We have confirmed this with Latheef and have 
also confirmed with UNHCR here that a number of MDP members 
(including Latheef) have registered with them as asylum 
seekers.  We will fold all this into our Maldives omnibus 
cable next week but wanted you to be aware of these 
developments.  We will also seek opportunities to ask our 
GSL contacts if expelling Maldivian democracy activists is 
really the public image they are seeking.  Latheef is trying 
to get to Geneva for Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty 
International meetings (presumably on the margins of the 
UNHRC) so there may well be publicity on the Maldives 
emanating from those meetings.  (DCM) 
 
ELECTION ASSISTANCE 
------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU)  AID here has received separate proposals for 
election assistance from NDI and IRI (AID had been 
encouraging a joint proposal).  We see some overlap in the 
proposals and are cognizant of the logistics of both groups 
being in country at the same, very busy, time.  AID is 
asking both groups to reconsider the idea of a joint 
proposal and, if not that, that overlapping areas be 
trimmed.  We'll take a closer look at the proposals over the 
weekend and, once the Ambassador is back Monday, decide how 
to proceed so that the AID contracting process can get 
rolling quickly.  (DCM) 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS 
-------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) Are up on our website and being distributed around 
town.  Immediate press reaction was to highlight our 
criticism of LTTE excesses.  Today BBC has a piece out 
noting that the U.S. "praised" the GSL record.  Text of 
article is quite accurate.  We'll put out a media reaction 
next week.  We've found a translation service here to put 
the Sri Lanka report in Tamil and Sinhalese.  Still 
scratching our heads over how to get the Maldives report 
translated.  Any guidance from DRL on how far down the 
language foodchain we have to go? (DCM) 
 
LUNSTEAD