US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO472

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000472 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, CE, LTTE - Peace Process, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  JVP JINGOISM ELICITS CLARIFICATION ON 
NEGOTIATIONS; PROVOKES PROTESTS IN TRINCOMALEE 
 
REF: COLOMBO 426 
 
1.  (U) Coalition partner Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) 
opposition to an official statement issued by the Government 
(GSL) on February 22 declaring its readiness to discuss "an 
interim arrangement" with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil 
Eelam (LTTE) prompted an official clarification of the GSL 
stance from the Government Information Department.  The JVP 
had branded the GSL position as anti-nationalist and 
threatened to resign from the coalition unless it were 
withdrawn (Reftel).    The clarification, issued on March 3, 
stresses that the GSL never agreed--as the JVP charged--to 
accepting the LTTE's controversial Interim Self-Governing 
Authority (ISGA) proposal as the sole basis of negotiations. 
Instead, "the Government has agreed to the concept of setting 
up an Interim Authority within the context of negotiating a 
permanent settlement to the ethnic conflict . . .(which) is 
very different from opening negotiation solely on the basis 
of the LTTE demand of the Interim Self-Governing Authority, 
which prevents the re-opening of direct negotiations."  The 
March 3 statement then quotes extracts from previous GSL 
statements, including one made by President Kumaratunga in 
October, to demonstrate the GSL position has not changed. 
 
2.  (U) The same day trouble broke out in the eastern coastal 
town of Trincomalee when JVP MP Jayantha Wijesekera, along 
with volunteers from the party's local "Red Star Disaster 
Assistance Program," attempted to build houses for tsunami 
victims on property owned by the Trincomalee Urban Council. 
According to one local resident, a group of Tamils, backed 
(or incited) by the LTTE, protested the move, complaining 
that the houses were being built only for Sinhalese victims 
and noting that the land was public property.  The 
confrontation turned violent, as rocks were thrown, road 
barriers thrown up and a JVP van set on fire.  Two people 
were injured.  The Sri Lanka Army and police were mobilized 
to regain order, and local residents, under the mistaken 
belief that a curfew had been imposed, returned home. 
According to local residents, the Sri Lanka Army Spokesman 
and DIG of Police Neville Wijesinghe, all was quiet by about 
5:00 p.m. local time. 
 
3.  (SBU)  JVP MP Wijesekera, who has earned a justifiable 
reputation as a firebrand and rabble-rouser, blamed the 
incident on the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance 
(TNA)--especially Trinco MP and local rival R. 
Sampanthan--when we talked to him on March 4.  Wijesekera 
claimed that he had obtained prior approval from local 
authorities and, while acknowledging that most of his 
program's beneficiaries are indeed members of the majority 
Sinhalese, alleged that representatives from all three 
communities were included in the project.  Sampanthan, on the 
other hand, denied any personal involvement to us, asserting 
instead that the protests were utterly spontaneous. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Comment:  The JVP continues to play an 
extraordinarily unhelpful role in just about every sphere of 
GSL activity, whether it be the budget, agricultural policy, 
the peace process or tsunami reconstruction.  (In another 
example, on March 2 the JVP organized the first-ever 
"Anti-colonialism Day"--a move, in the view of many 
observers, intended to embarrass the government as it 
welcomes aid organizations from many former colonial powers 
to help rebuild.)  The President apparently took her 
coalition partner's latest threat to leave the government 
seriously enough to issue a clarification--a clarification 
that, unfortunately, reinserts certain conditions on resumed 
negotiations omitted in the February 22 statement.  We 
predict this apparent concession will be unlikely to satisfy 
the ever-contentious JVP for long, however.  With nearly 
equal percentages of Sinhalese, Muslim and Tamil residents, 
Trincomalee is a particularly volatile area, and Wijesekera's 
provocative activism is a constant irritant.  We have no 
indication that he plans to adopt a lower profile anytime 
soon.  The GSL may have weathered this latest fracas, but we 
expect more trouble from its fractious partner soon. 
 
LUNSTEAD