US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO1623

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001623 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, EAID, PTER, PHUM, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  EAST REMAINS TENSE AMID POLITICAL 
UNCERTAINTY 
 
REF: COLOMBO 1588 
 
Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Several recent political killings in the 
East, connected to last spring,s factional split of the 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), have raised the 
level of tension and concern among local residents.  Emboff's 
trip to the East September 23-24 to inaugurate several USAID 
projects afforded a look at a region that is calm but anxious 
and pessimistic about the prospects for a resumption of 
negotiations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (SBU) Information Officer (IO) traveled to Batticaloa and 
Ampara districts in eastern Sri Lanka September 23-24 to 
promote media coverage of several USAID projects.  Contacts 
met during the visit expressed anxiety and unease with the 
current situation in the East, an area that has been roiled 
by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) infighting since 
the March 2004 split of the Tigers' Eastern commander 
&Karuna8 from the main northern Tiger faction. (Note: As 
reported reftel, the latest high-profile assassination was 
the September 23 slaying of Karuna,s brother on the northern 
border of Batticaloa District.  Estimates indicate that 
approximately forty people have been killed in factional 
fighting since Karuna broke with the LTTE.  End Note.) 
According to Muslim residents of Sammanthurai in Ampara 
District, the violence since the split last March has lowered 
their hopes for the peace process and raised concerns about 
the prospects for a return to a full-fledged war.  A 
community leader in the local Muslim group Al-Quereshia said 
Muslims in Ampara had long ago adopted a wait-and-see policy 
toward pronouncements from either Colombo or LTTE 
headquarters in Kilinochchi.  The Muslim community leader 
emphasized that Muslims like himself were &taking care of 
the situation themselves,8 although he declined to expand on 
that declaration. 
 
3.  (SBU) In Akkairapattu, a heavily Muslim area between 
Batticaloa and Ampara districts, many interlocutors stated 
that regardless of the situation in the capital, life for 
them was not driven by politics.  The owner of a small 
electronics concern in the town said that while he was eager 
for peace to come, he was more concerned about day-to-day 
quality of life issues rather than politics.  Echoing 
comments made by others on the area, the businessman stated 
he did not trust the LTTE to reform, since he had &seen what 
they are capable of.8  On the drive from Ampara to 
Batticaloa, however, several road-spanning wooden cutouts 
known as &pandals8 announcing an LTTE &martyr,s8 death 
commemoration were in evidence, as were copious Tiger 
decorations, and offices linked to the LTTE headquarters' 
political wing  appeared open for business. 
 
4.  (SBU) In Batticaloa district, in contrast, contacts 
reported a feeling of heightened tension following the split 
in March and subsequent factional fighting.  In Batticaloa 
town, shops were open, and the streets bustled with activity. 
  LTTE offices across Batticaloa District remained shuttered, 
our interlocutors said, and there had been little or no 
activity by the Northern Tigers since Karuna's faction took a 
drubbing at the hands of the main Tiger organization in 
April.  Underscoring the seriousness with which the Tigers 
took Karuna,s break, contacts reported that there had been 
no LTTE tax collections (arguably one of the most important 
Tiger activities) since the outbreak of fighting in April. 
 
5.  (C)  The overall mood in Batticaloa was one of sullen 
resentment towards the Government of Sri Lanka, and 
uncertainty towards the political future of the east.  Father 
Harry Miller (Amcit- strictly protect), a Jesuit priest who 
has been in Sri Lanka for the last fifty years, told us his 
parishioners were increasingly worried as the &Karuna 
situation8 continued to simmer beneath the surface of 
everyday life.  Miller said that people in Batticaloa were 
unwilling to state publicly whether they favored Karuna or 
the main Tiger organization, as there &was no way of telling 
which side the person next to you might support.8 Miller 
added that in the East national politics paled in importance 
to local affairs; most locals were focused on the 
machinations of the Tigers.  Major Merril Perera, a Sri Lanka 
Army officer attached to Batticaloa headquarters command, 
echoed these comments, saying while the situation since April 
had been calm, people were &waiting for the other shoe to 
drop.8 
6.  (C) COMMENT:  The East, with its ethnic patchwork of 
Tamils, Muslims, and Sinhalese, has long been a potential 
flashpoint in Sri Lanka.  Our interlocutors asserted that the 
priority of most ordinary citizens of Batticaloa and Ampara 
was a return to normalcy and peace.  Nevertheless there 
remains a strong undercurrent of resentment towards the 
northern leadership of the Tigers, a sentiment that contacts 
suggest lies behind Karuna,s break with the main Tiger 
organization.  As last week's killings illustrate, the two 
factions are still sorting things out in the East.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
LUNSTEAD