US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1419

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001419 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PGOV, ASEC, CE, LTTE - Peace Process, MIssion Security 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED FOLLOWING 
FOREIGN MINISTER'S ASSASSINATION, BUT SITUATION CALM SO FAR 
 
REF: A. COLOMBO 1417 
     B. COLOMBO 1418 
 
Classified By: Charge' d'Affaires James F. Entwistle.  Reason:  1.4 (b, 
d). 
 
1.  (U)  President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a state of 
emergency the morning of August 13 following the killing of 
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar by suspected Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) assassins the previous night 
(Ref A).  The measure, which gives police and military 
expanded powers of search, seizure and detention, must be 
approved by Parliament within the next two weeks.  An 
announcement by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Spokesman Brigadier 
General Daya Ratnayake urging local residents to remain home 
and suspend unnecessary travel was broadcast across local 
media the morning of August 13.  (Note:  The Brigadier's 
urging notwithstanding, we noticed no appreciable reduction 
in vehicular or pedestrian traffic as of 10:00 a.m. local 
time August 13.)  According to media sources, police 
retrieved a gun and ammunition from bushes in the 
neighborhood where the killing took place. 
 
2.  (C)  Charge' spoke with Norwegian Ambassador Hans 
Brattskar mid-morning August 13.  Brattskar said that 
Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim had contacted LTTE Peace 
Secretariat head Pulidevan by telephone in Kilinochchi 
 
SIPDIS 
several hours earlier.  In that conversation, Pulidevan had 
denied that the LTTE had assassinated Kadirgamar, commenting 
that it would make no sense to do so since, in the Tigers' 
view, Kadirgamar was "sidelined from peace and ethnic 
issues."  Brattskar said Solheim had told Pulidevan that his 
denial was difficult to swallow and that the LTTE should 
expect widespread condemnation. 
 
3.  (C)  SLA sources told the DATT that the military had 
observed no unusual LTTE activity in the north or east that 
would indicate that the Tigers were planning to resume 
full-scale hostility.  However, the SLA has increased its 
security posture and will continue to monitor the situation. 
A contact in Batticaloa has told us that the military has 
sealed off the road 5 km north of Valachchenai to prevent 
travel into LTTE areas.  RSO has also heard unconfirmed 
reports from Tamil sources that the assassin(s) had already 
fled to LTTE-held territory in Batticaloa.  We have heard no 
reports of other disturbances--including protests or 
demonstrations--since the killing.  (The morning of August 
12, however, an announcer for the Tamil service of the 
state-run television and radio news stations and her husband, 
a member of the anti-LTTE People's Liberation Organization of 
Tamil Eelam, were shot and killed in their Colombo home.) 
The Embassy Emergency Action Committee met the morning of 
August 13 to review our current security posture (Ref B). 
 
 
4.  (U) The Government has announced that Kadirgamar will be 
accorded a state funeral.  A committee headed by Deputy 
Minister of Defense Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was meeting at 
10:30 a.m. local time to plan the service.  Foreign Ministry 
Protocol Chief told Charge' the funeral probably would be 
"Monday or Wednesday," but that details would be announced 
later. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment:  Despite this shocking event and the 
declaration of a state of emergency, the  streets of Colombo 
appear no different from any other Saturday morning, and 
traffic appears to be flowing more or less as usual.  From 
reports we have heard to date, things seem equally calm--if 
tense--in other areas as well, including the north and east. 
Having carried off its highest-profile hit since the killing 
of President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993, the LTTE appears 
to be waiting to see the Government's response.  We will 
continue to urge restraint and prudence and to monitor the 
situation . 
ENTWISTLE