US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO373

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000373 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, CE, JA, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: DHANAPALA SAYS GOVERNMENT WILLING TO COMPROMISE 
WITH LTTE ON AID MECHANISM 
 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR JEFFREY J. LUNSTEAD FOR REASON 1.5 (D). 
 
1.  (C) Ambassador met with head of Sri Lankan 
Peace Secretariat Jayantha Dhanapala February 
16. Dhanapala launched immediately into a 
recounting of the status of the negotiations 
with the LTTE to set up a joint mechanism for 
reconstruction in the North and East.  He said 
that the negotiations had been progressing 
fairly well, and then the Kausalyan killing 
upset everything. "It was the worst thing at the 
worst time."  He then extensively described the 
reasons why the Army and the Government could 
not be blamed for the killing. 
 
2.  (C) Returning to the negotiations, Dhanapala 
said that on February 3 he had sent a fresh GSL 
proposal to the LTTE by email.  Then the 
Kausalyan assassination spoiled the atmosphere. 
Even before that, however, there were problems. 
In his first six rounds of negotiations with 
LTTE Peace Secretariat head Pulidevan, things 
moved smoothly.  However, when the proposals 
were sent to the LTTE Central Committee for 
clearance, things slowed down and became more 
difficult. 
 
3. (C)  After the Central Committee became 
involved, several important policy issues came 
up.  For one, the LTTE now insisted that the 
mechanism should cover not only a band running 
two kilometers inland, but also the offshore 
areas. Second, the LTTE is resisting the GSL 
idea that the mechanism will come into being 
through a Presidential decision.  Sri Lanka is a 
democracy with rule of law, Dhanapala said, and 
they must follow certain procedures. 
Nonetheless, he said, the GSL was willing to be 
very flexible on these issues.  They could not 
compromise, however, on the composition of the 
committees which will be formed under the 
mechanism to administer reconstruction.  They 
have agreed that the high-level committee will 
have three members: one Tamil, one Muslim and 
one Sinhalese.  On the regional committees, 
however, there is disagreement.  The LTTE wants 
six Tamils, three Muslims and two Sinhalese--a 
built-in Tamil majority.  The GSL wants five 
instead of six Tamils, with some sort of 
tiebreaker provision.  The GSL also wants to 
build in minority safeguards, so a majority 
cannot override the concerns of an ethnic 
minority. 
 
4.  (C) Dhanapala emphasized that he thought all 
of these issues could be resolved if the LTTE 
were willing to compromise.  He had been 
expecting Pulidevan for several days, but he had 
not yet shown up.  Ambassador commented that we 
and all other interested parties wanted very 
much for the mechanism negotiation to succeed. 
He said that there was probably a disconnect in 
experience and outlook. Veteran international 
negotiators like Dhanapala and Foreign Minister 
Kadirgamar were used to teasing out subtleties 
and trying to resolve them.  The unsophisticated 
LTTE took a much less nuanced and more 
straightforward approach. Dhanapala agreed and 
said he thought it would be helpful if the 
LTTE's more sophisticated expatriate advisers 
returned to assist them. 
 
5. (C) COMMENT: Dhanapala obviously wants to 
make the mechanism negotiations work, but he 
takes a strong stand on points relating to the 
sovereignty of the government.  As mentioned 
above, Dhanapala's somewhat legalistic approach 
probably does not mesh well with the LTTE's 
approach.  Norwegian Ambassador Brattskar (who 
is in bed with the flu these days) will have his 
hands full in trying to keep this on track. 
Norwegian Special Envoy Eric Solheim will be 
here next week; perhaps he will have some luck. 
LUNSTEAD