US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO607

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000607 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA 
DEPARTMENT PLS ALSO PASS TO USTR J. ROSENBAUM 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
TREASURY FOR R. ADKINS 
COMMERCE FOR A. BENAISSA 
NEW DELHI PLEASE PASS TO CODEL DREIER 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  04-07-14 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINS, PINR, PHUM, MOPS, CE, Political Parties, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Tensions continue to percolate between LTTE 
and rebel commander; Signs of split in major Tamil party 
 
Refs:  Colombo 601, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b, d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Tensions continue to percolate between 
the main LTTE organization and rebel eastern commander 
Karuna.  The Tigers recently warned Karuna that they 
plan to "get rid" of him.  In the meantime, there are 
continuing reports of LTTE hit squads roaming the east 
and of LTTE and Karuna forces eyeballing each other 
along the Trincomalee-Batticaloa border.  The stresses 
are having their impact on the TNA, Sri Lanka's major 
Tamil party, which did well in the recent election, but 
now appears to be effectively divided into two camps, 
one pro-LTTE, one pro-Karuna.  In its lone statement re 
the election, the Tigers underscored their support for 
the peace process, but warned that they were prepared to 
fight for "Tamil sovereignty" if necessary.  The LTTE's 
timeline in trying to knock out Karuna is not known, but 
hostilities of some sort appear almost inevitable down 
the road.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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The LTTE warns Karuna 
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2.  (U) In a recent public statement, the main 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization 
lashed out at dissident eastern commander Karuna. 
(Karuna broke from the LTTE in early March -- see 
Reftels.  Karuna's real name is V. Muralitharan.)  In a 
long statement posted on the pro-Tiger website 
"TamilNet" on March 25, the LTTE stated, in part: 
 
"Our cadres should comprehend Karuna's treachery and 
keep away from him.  Anybody who opposes disciplinary 
action against Karuna will be considered a traitor to 
the Tamil national cause.  Based on the understanding 
that all the cadres enrolled themselves in the movement 
accepted the leadership of (LTTE leader) V. Prabhakaran, 
we request that the cadres who are with Karuna now, 
without knowing the truth, should abandon him." 
 
3.  (SBU) In an ominous note, the statement closed in 
the following manner:  "To safeguard our nation and our 
people, it has been decided to get rid of Karuna from 
our soil."  By making this threat, the Tigers were 
clearly reversing their previous position that Karuna 
might be able to return to the organization if he made 
amends for his actions.  (Karuna and his advisers had, 
in public comments, refused to do this.) 
 
4.  (SBU) Although TamilNet has not posted any 
additional statements about Karuna in the past several 
days, Mission continues to hear reports that the LTTE is 
engaged in a comprehensive, door-to-door effort to 
discredit Karuna among Tamils in the north and east. 
For their part, Karuna and his advisers have kept 
relatively quiet of late, especially in comparison to 
the constant hum of public attacks they made on the main 
LTTE organization (for being war-mongers, for being 
prejudiced against eastern Tamils, etc.) in early March. 
 
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Tensions high in East 
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5.  (C) In the meantime, tensions remain extremely high 
in the east as LTTE and Karuna elements jostle and 
monitor each other's moves.  There are reports, for 
example, that several LTTE hit squads, under the 
direction of LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman, have 
infiltrated Batticaloa and Ampara Districts.  (Karuna 
has influence in these two eastern districts.)  The aim 
of the hit squads is pretty clearly to knock off 
supporters of Karuna.  Compounding the tensions in the 
east are reports of a buildup of heavily armed pro- 
Karuna and pro-Prabhakaran forces in the area of 
Verugal, which is located approximately 30 kilometers 
south of the key eastern port city of Trincomalee. 
Reports indicate that several hundred armed cadres from 
both factions are continuing to monitor each other from 
either side of a river in the Verugal area which 
straddles the border between Trincomalee and Batticaloa 
districts.  (Of the two factions, the main LTTE 
organization remains by far the strongest in Trincomalee 
District.)  In another indication of the fierce jostling 
now taking place between the two sides, Sri Lanka Army 
sources report that troops loyal to Karuna are 
attempting to infiltrate the Vanni, with the ostensible 
purpose of attempting to kill Tiger leader V. 
Prabhakaran.  (The Vanni region in the north is the core 
area controlled by the main LTTE organization in Sri 
Lanka.) 
 
6.  (C) In a grisly example of apparent infighting 
between the two camps, R. Sathiamoorthy, a Tamil 
candidate for Parliament, was killed along with a 
relative when armed men attacked his home in Batticaloa 
town in the early morning hours of March 30. 
Sathiamoorthy, who was close to Karuna, was an outspoken 
opponent of the LTTE.  Following the killing, 
Sathiamoorthy's body was paraded around Batticaloa 
District by Karuna supporters, who claimed that he had 
been killed by the LTTE.  After being buried on 
March 31, Sathiamoorthy's body was exhumed in early 
April and partially burnt.  While no group has claimed 
responsibility for Sathiamoorthy's killing and the 
subsequent desecration of his corpse, contacts in 
Batticaloa say that a LTTE hit squad from the north was 
almost certainly to blame. 
 
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Stresses in major Tamil party 
----------------------------- 
 
7.  (C) The fierce tensions between the main LTTE 
organization and Karuna have led to serious stresses in 
Sri Lanka's major Tamil party, the Tamil National 
Alliance (TNA).  (The TNA is also known as the "ITAK" 
party, the acronym for "Ilanki Tamil Arasu Katchchi" or 
Federal Party.)  The TNA did well in the election, 
winning 22 seats (up from 15 seats) in Sri Lanka's 
parliamentary election held on April 2 (see Reftels). 
The party continues to be dominated by pro-LTTE elements 
from Jaffna in the north and Trincomalee in the east. 
It is estimated, however, that 4-5 TNA MPs from the 
eastern districts of Batticaloa and Ampara are loyal to 
Karuna and not to LTTE leader Prabhakaran.  There are 
reports that President Kumaratunga's United People's 
Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which is trying to garner 
majority support in Parliament, is mulling over whether 
to try to woo this group of Karuna loyalists to its 
side.  Tamil contacts have told us that at a meeting of 
all of the TNA parliamentarians held late April 6 in 
Colombo it was agreed that the party would not divide 
into northern and eastern elements.  Despite these 
reports, Mission continues to hear that there is a deep 
fissure in the TNA and it is effectively divided into 
two camps, one pro-LTTE, one pro-Karuna. 
 
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Brief LTTE comments on election 
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8.  (U) For its part, the LTTE released a brief 
statement on April 5 on TamilNet commenting on the 
recently concluded election.  It stated that Tamil 
voters had "performed a commendable historical duty" by 
voting in large numbers of MPs from the TNA.  The 
statement supported the peace process, but went on to 
note that if the "Tamil national problem" was not 
resolved on the basis of "Tamil self-rule" then "the 
Tamil people will fight to establish Tamil sovereignty 
in their homeland on the principle of self- 
determination." 
 
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COMMENT 
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9.  (C) The LTTE's timeline in trying to knock out 
Karuna is not known.  There had been word in recent 
weeks that the Tigers would wait until after the 
election to up the pressure.  Since April 2, there has 
been no discernible indication that the Tigers plan any 
sort of all-out offensive.  That said, hostilities 
between the two sides would seem hard to avoid at some 
point.  If fighting breaks out, there are worries that 
the humanitarian situation in the east could quickly 
become dire and we understand that the UNDP is making 
contingency plans.  Re the TNA, it is still not certain 
whether the party will formerly split into two groups. 
It is certainly the case that if the UPFA tries to work 
with pro-Karuna elements in the TNA it would greatly 
upset LTTE leader Prabhakaran and almost certainly 
affect the peace process in a negative way.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
10.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
LUNSTEAD