US embassy cable - 02COLOMBO1758

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001758 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/CT:JMANN/ACHAMBERS; ALSO PASS SA, SA/INS 
 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  09-20-12 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, ASEC, KCRM, PINS, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Foreign Terrorist Organizations:  Sri Lanka update 
 
Ref:  State 179250 
 
(U) Classified by W. Lewis Amselem, Charge d'Affaires. 
Reasons 1.5 (b, d). 
 
1.  (C) Per Reftel Action Request, Mission has carefully 
reviewed the Sri Lanka section of the 2001 Patterns of 
Global Terrorism Report.  Mission provides the following 
update for Department's review: 
 
-- The Sri Lankan government continues to support the 
global campaign against terrorism. 
 
-- Domestic situation:  For the first time since 1995, 
the GSL and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
held peace talks, September 16-18.  (Note:  The LTTE is 
a FTO-listed organization.)  The Norwegian government 
facilitated the talks, which took place in Thailand.  By 
all accounts, the talks were successful, with both sides 
agreeing to meet again in coming months, and to form 
joint bodies to look into humanitarian- and 
demilitarization-related issues.  There was also 
agreement that Muslim leader Rauf Hakeem would meet with 
LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran in October.  The focus of 
this meeting would be to decrease LTTE-Muslim tensions, 
especially in Sri Lanka's ethnically mixed Eastern 
Province (see more on this situation below).  Also of 
importance was that in a press conference held at the 
end of the talks the chief LTTE negotiator made remarks 
that edged away from an outright demand for a separate 
state for Tamils. 
 
-- The GSL lifted its legal ban on the LTTE on 
September 4, 2002.  The GSL took this step in order to 
facilitate the peace process, as the LTTE had demanded 
that the ban be lifted as an explicit condition for the 
group's entry into peace talks.  The GSL's ban had been 
in place since January 1998.  Although symbolic, the 
lifting of the ban has had little practical effect.  An 
estimated 800 Tamils accused of being terrorist 
operatives linked with the LTTE remain incarcerated 
under Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) 
provisions, for example. 
 
-- A ceasefire, which began in December 2001 and was 
formalized into a "cessation of hostilities" accord in 
February 2002, remains in effect as of September 2002. 
 
-- A recent statement issued by the Norwegian 
government-run Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) 
reports that violations of the February accord by both 
sides decreased dramatically in recent months.  Almost 
all of the violations were minor, with most of them 
attributed to the LTTE.  The reported violations by the 
LTTE include instances of forced recruitment for its 
military (some of it of children), and the widespread 
extortion of money from Tamils and Muslims.  (Note:  The 
LTTE recently released some children who had been 
forcibly recruited.) 
 
-- There have been no reports of terrorist violence 
(suicide bombings, etc.) by the LTTE since the ceasefire 
began in December 2001.  The LTTE has not renounced the 
use of terrorism, however. 
 
-- There have been instances of Muslim-Tamil violence in 
which people have been killed in past months, including 
a series of incidents in late June in the Eastern 
Province.  The LTTE has been accused of some degree of 
involvement in the June incidents, but these reports are 
not confirmed.  The LTTE has also been accused in at 
least one incident involving the killing of a Tamil said 
to be an opponent of the group.  The LTTE has denied any 
involvement. 
 
2.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
AMSELEM