US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1052

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001052 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
LONDON FOR BELL 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, CE, OPIC, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  FASTS AND FURIOUS:  MONKS AND MARXISTS 
OPPOSE TSUNAMI RELIEF COORDINATION 
 
REF: COLOMBO 1044 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (SBU) President Chandrika Kumaratunga continues to face 
staunch opposition from Marxist coalition partner Janatha 
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Buddhist nationalist Jathika 
Hela Urumaya (JHU) over her plans to sign an agreement on 
tsunami relief with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
 
SIPDIS 
(LTTE).  On June 10 monks and Buddhist laity, whose four-hour 
protest had snarled traffic in the heart of Colombo, were 
turned back by tear gas and water cannon from the President's 
House.  Although Colombo was quiet on the weekend, police 
used tear gas to disperse another protest near the 
President's House on June 13; another protest is planned for 
June 14.  One hunger-striking monk ended his five-day fast 
June 10 after the President promised not to sign the 
agreement without further consultation with chief monks; 
another monk, as well as members of a JVP-affiliated student 
group, began their own protest fasts over the weekend.  A 
June 12 meeting between the President and the Tamil National 
Alliance (TNA) ended inconclusively; meetings between 
Kumaratunga and representatives from the two largest parties, 
including her own, are scheduled for June 13.  The President 
appears to remain determined to go ahead with signing the 
joint mechanism.  End summary. 
 
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WATER CANNON, TEAR GAS TURNED 
ON PROTESTING "PATRIOTS" 
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2.  (U)   The afternoon of June 10 monks and Buddhist laity 
opposed to President Chandrika Kumaratunga's plans to sign an 
agreement on tsunami aid coordination with the Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) (Reftel) held a four-hour 
protest march, paralyzing traffic in downtown Colombo at the 
heart of rush hour.  The protesters, with several hundred 
venerable monks in the vanguard, were turned back in their 
attempts to storm the President's house after police 
dispersed them with water cannon and tear gas; three monks 
were hospitalized with minor injuries in the fracas.  POL 
FSN, who watched part of the protest, reported seeing some 
monks carrying cans of gasoline as they marched toward the 
President's house.  According to press reports, some of the 
monks had threatened to immolate themselves unless the 
President reversed her decision to sign the controversial 
document.  None of the clerics acted on this threat, however. 
 
 
3.  (U) The Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thero, the Buddhist monk 
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) MP who had begun a 
"fast-unto-death" against the so-called "joint mechanism" on 
tsunami relief on June 6 in Kandy, ended his hunger strike on 
 
SIPDIS 
June 10 after the President pledged not to sign the agreement 
without consulting the four chief Buddhist prelates, or 
"Mahanayakes."  No sooner had the JHU monk abandoned his fast 
than another religious leader--Ven. Dambara Amila Thero, the 
Joint Secretary of the National Patriotic Front--began one, 
however.  Members of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 
(JVP) student wing at Kelaniya and Peradeniya Universities 
reportedly are joining him in the fast.  Although the streets 
of Colombo were quiet over the weekend, on June 13 university 
students and monks held another protest near the main railway 
station in downtown Colombo.  Anti-riot police dispersed the 
protesters with water cannon and tear gas.  The JVP plans 
another protest at town hall in Colombo on June 14. 
 
 
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TALKS WITH TNA: 
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS 
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4.  (SBU) With her JVP coalition partner still threatening to 
leave the government by June 16 unless the President promises 
to give up the joint mechanism (Reftel), Kumaratunga is 
reportedly casting about for other allies.  She met with 
representatives of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which 
holds 22 seats in Parliament, on June 12 in a bid to gain 
their support.  The meeting appears to have ended 
inconclusively, with the TNA MPs saying they would support 
the President on the joint mechanism--but not until she has 
actually signs it.  The TNA also stopped short of pledging a 
cross-over to help fill the JVP void, according to MPs who 
attended the meeting, stipulating that the party would extend 
its support to the government only on the issue of the joint 
mechanism.  TNA MP Suresh Premachandran told POL FSN later 
that evening that his party cannot extend support to the 
Government as long as the Government extends support to the 
dissident "Karuna" group.  TNA MPs traveled to LTTE 
headquarters in Kilinochchi on June 13, presumably to brief 
the LTTE on their discussion.  (Note:  If the JVP quits the 
government, the President will lose her slender majority in 
the 225-seat Parliament.  Right now the President's alliance 
commands a total of 119 seats.  If the JVP walks out, 
presumably taking with it one other small party as well, the 
tally drops to 78.) 
 
5.  (SBU)   The President was scheduled to meet Opposition 
Leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on June 
13 to seek his support as well.  (The meeting was originally 
scheduled for 3:00 p.m. local time, but appears, in typical 
fashion, to have slipped.)  As of COB June 13 we had no 
reports that the meeting had even begun. 
 
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DRAFT DEMYSTIFIED 
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6.  (U) The President's efforts so far to keep the substance 
of the text out of the press had been criticized by many 
observers as fueling JVP-generated speculation that the 
mechanism (now restyled the Post-Tsunami Operations 
Management Structure or "P-TOMS") gave the LTTE the authority 
to handle funds and/or awarded tacit recognition to a 
separate state.  Over the past few days, however, 
Kumaratunga, apparently responding to accusations that she 
was trying to hide the contents of the agreement from the Sri 
Lankan public, took several steps to clarify its main 
elements and to rally support for it.  In a lengthy interview 
on state-owned radio on June 12, the President described the 
joint mechanism as "an administrative arrangement," rather 
than a political agreement, intended to ensure equitable 
distribution of aid resources to tsunami victims in 
LTTE-controlled areas of the north and east.  According to 
the official English translation of the broadcast, she said 
the proposed agreement "clearly manifests that the LTTE is 
ready to enter the democratic mainstream (since) they agreed 
to support the Government proposal (for the joint mechanism) 
instead of pursuing the Eelam (homeland) goal."  Local press 
reports on June 13 carried a summary of the main features of 
the draft agreement--the first-such synopsis available to the 
general public since the President announced last month her 
support for the agreement--stressing in particular that the 
mechanism would operate only in areas 2 km from the coastline 
in the north and east.  Responding to complaints from her own 
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MPs that they had been kept in 
the dark about the specifics of the agreement, she reportedly 
promised to give each a written summary at a meeting on June 
13.  After the discussion with her MPs, she next held a 
lengthy meeting with SLFP district organizers--reportedly to 
give marching orders to hold P-TOMS awareness campaigns at 
the local level. 
 
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COMMENT 
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7.  (SBU)  With neither side modifying its position over the 
weekend, the President and her JVP coalition partner seem 
headed on a collision course.  For the President, the scales 
appear tilted.  The opposition is organized and intense, 
while those who presumably support the mechanism--including 
the TNA and her own SLFP MPs--seem to biding their time to 
see how things turn out.  Long-time rival Ranil 
Wickremesinghe is an unlikely savior--especially since 
Kumaratunga's own machinations brought down his last 
government.   The President's attempts to demystify the 
much-vilified mechanism may be coming too late in the day to 
counter the highly emotional propaganda campaign mounted by 
the JVP and JHU.  Moving the debate moved out of the realm of 
the rational to the histrionic, the JVP/JHU appeal to 
chauvinism and communalism may, unfortunately, prove more 
persuasive to the general public than the facts.  At this 
point, however, Kumaratunga has said nothing to suggest that 
she has changed her determination, as she told the Ambassador 
on June 9, to conclude the joint mechanism. 
ENTWISTLE