US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1088

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001088 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, CE, LTTE - Peace Process, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA'S JOINT MECHANISM: DEBATES OVER THE 
EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES RAGE ON 
 
REF: COLOMBO 01052 
 
Classified By: AMB J. LUNSTEAD FOR REASONS 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
1. (SBU)  Summary.  Political parties and citizens continue 
to debate the Joint Mechanism (JM) for tsunami relief, and 
although the President continues to express her determination 
to go forward with the JM, she has not yet done so.  Various 
parties are criticizing the JM, and the longer she waits to 
sign it, the longer these opponents will have to quibble with 
segments of it and to turn public sentiment against it. 
Members of other parties and journalists have already noted 
this trend.  End summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Although the President has not yet released the 
official text of the Joint Mechanism (JM) for tsunami aid 
distribution, she continues to make public statements to try 
to garner support for it.  However, she still faces 
opposition, not just from the former coalition partner 
Janathi Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP), who left the coalition over 
the JM, but also from other parties.  Press reports indicate 
that anti LTTE Tamil United Liberal Front (TULF) leader 
Ananda Sangaree strongly opposes the JM because he believes 
it legitimizes the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by 
giving it a role in distributing aid. 
 
3. (C) Media reports also indicate that the Opposition's 
United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told 
members of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that 
both the president and a representative of the LTTE should 
sign the Joint Mechanism (JM) for tsunami relief distribution 
before the document is forwarded to the House for discussion 
in Parliament.  In a discussion with pol FSN, TNA Member of 
Parliament (MP) Gajen Ponnambalam confirmed that report.  He 
added that the president does not have full support within 
her own party, but she should exert her executive authority 
rather than relying on Parliament.  On June 20 United 
National Party (UNP) MP G.L. Peiris told the Ambassador that 
if the President does bring the JM as an adjournment motion 
before Parliament, the ensuing debate will be highly divisive 
and unproductive. 
 
4. (C) According to Ponnambalam, the TNA sees the JM as an 
essential precursor to the peace process.  LTTE political 
leader Thamilchelvan is also cited in the media as saying 
that the JM is an important confidence-building measure that 
may help ease the path of the peace process.  Thamilchelvan 
is due to meet with the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister 
Vidar Helgesen, who began a five day visit on June 20. 
Helgesen will also meet Wickremsinghe, MPs from the TNA, and 
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) MP Rauf Hakeem.  The press 
reports that Helgessen will assist in final decisions on the 
JM.  The LTTE has stated in the press that it wants the World 
Bank to be entrusted with the aid rather than the Sri Lankan 
Ministry of Finance. 
 
5. (C)  Comment.  In attempting to convince people to support 
the mechanism, the President has actually opened the debate 
wider.  She has tried to reassure the public that the JM is 
an administrative structure and that the LTTE has recognized 
government primacy by agreeing to the JM.  The LTTE's 
insistence that the aid be administered through the World 
Bank may be an attempt to respond with an assertion of 
independence.  The longer the JM remains in the public eye 
without actually being signed, it is subject to criticism 
from all sides and the slimmer its chances for success 
become.  At this point the President has nothing to lose by 
signing the JM; she has already lost her majority in 
Parliament. 
 
 
 
 
LUNSTEAD