US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1547

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001547 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS, S/CT, KATRINA TASK FORCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/01/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, EFIN, EAID, PGOV, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT URGES EU TERRORIST 
DESIGNATION FOR LTTE, INVITES UN ENVOY 
 
REF: A. COLOMBO 1537 (NOTAL) 
 
     B. COLOMBO 1493 (NOTAL) 
     C. COLOMBO 1453 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: CHARGE' D'AFFAIRES JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B, 
 D) 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (C) In a September 2 meeting, Foreign Secretary H.M.G.S. 
Palihakkara briefed Charge' on the status of Government of 
Sri Lanka (GSL) efforts to persuade the European Union to 
proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a 
terrorist organization and to review possible funding flows 
from EU nations to the LTTE (Refs B and C).  Palihakkara said 
the GSL hopes recent evidence of LTTE responsibility for the 
August 12 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman 
Kadirgamar, communicated to the UK High Commissioner 
September 1, will convince EU members to designate the Tigers 
at a meeting on the topic scheduled for September 7 in 
Brussels.  Palihakkara underscored that the upcoming visit to 
Colombo of a UN official was aimed at helping the GSL review 
ways to strengthen the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA)--and was not 
meant as an indirect expression of GSL displeasure with 
Norwegian facilitation efforts.  Charge' thanked the Foreign 
Secretary for the Sri Lankan offer of assistance to the 
 
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victims of Hurricane Katrina.  End summary. 
 
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GSL SEEKING EU CONSENSUS 
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2.  (C) In a September 2 meeting, Foreign Secretary H.M.G.S. 
Palihakkara updated Charge' on Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) 
efforts to persuade the European Union to list the Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organization. 
Palihakkara provided Charge' with a copy of an Aide Memoire 
given to the UK High Commissioner on August 29 formally 
requesting  the inclusion of the Tigers on the EU List of 
Persons, Groups and Entities involved in Terrorist Acts.  The 
note states that although "the Government of Sri Lanka has 
long believed that the terrorist acts engaged in by the LTTE 
fully merit its inclusion in the EU List," the GSL had 
desisted from urging EU action following the signing of the 
Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE in 2002 "until the heinous 
murder of the late Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka on 12th 
August, 2005."  Palihakkara acknowledged that the August 29 
note offered only circumstantial evidence of LTTE 
responsibility for the assassination, e.g., previous 
unsuccessful LTTE attempts on Kadirgamar's life; the arrest 
of two LTTE cadres in the vicinity of Kadirgamar's residence 
on July 30; previous LTTE assassinations by sniper and other 
Tiger-trademark similarities to the crime; and the 
"ghoulish," gloating reaction to the killing in media 
sympathetic to the LTTE.  The aide memoire also contains 
several annexes of supplemental information on the history of 
LTTE terrorist activities over the past 30 years. 
 
3.  (C) On September 1, Palihakkara reported, he had provided 
the UK High Commissioner an addendum to the August 29 note (a 
copy of which Palihakkara handed to Charge') containing what 
the GSL believes is more conclusive evidence of LTTE guilt: 
confessions obtained by police from two Tamil men, one of 
whom was employed as a gardener at the next-door residence 
from which the assassin's bullets were fired, implicating the 
LTTE in the crime.  According to the gardener's statement, in 
February 2004 he was introduced to three LTTE cadres in 
Colombo who demanded his "help" and brought him to LTTE 
headquarters in Kilinochchi in May 2005, where he met 
"Charles," the LTTE intelligence chief in charge of 
operations in the south.  Following that visit, the gardener 
returned to Colombo, where he assisted "Vinothan," an LTTE 
cadre, to perform surveillance on the late Minister's house, 
obtain a key to the adjacent house and bring in materials to 
construct the improvised tripod used to mount the murder 
weapon.  At "Vinothan's" insistence, the statement continues, 
the gardener also let two unidentified Tamil men into the 
house the night of August 10. 
4.  (C)  Even Norwegian facilitators are saying in private 
that they are convinced of the Tigers' guilt, the Foreign 
Secretary commented.  Palihakkara said the GSL hopes that 
 
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this stronger evidence of LTTE culpability in Kadirgamar's 
killing would succeed in convincing EU member nations to 
designate the Tigers. He reported that a meeting of member 
states' representatives "at the functional level" will 
address this topic in Brussels on September 7. The GSL is 
buttressing its effort with demarches in several European 
capitals as well, he noted.  He expressed gratitude to 
Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca 
for raising the issue in her recent meetings in London, and 
for US discussions with Canada.  Sri Lankan Ambassador to 
U.S. Bernard Goonetilleke will follow up by traveling to 
Ottawa as a special envoy to press the case, Palihakkara 
said.  Charge' noted that the Indian High Commissioner had 
told him that her government would also "lobby" UK Prime 
Minister Blair to designate the Tigers at an upcoming 
Indian-EU summit. 
 
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TRO TOO? 
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5.  (C)  In the same meeting, MFA Legal Advisor Rohan Perera 
reported that ongoing GSL efforts to track the flow of 
foreign funds through the LTTE-affiliated Tamil 
Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) revealed that USD 9 million 
had been funneled through the charity from abroad since 
January.  The GSL is trying to obtain a country-by-country 
breakdown on the funding, as well as additional information 
on individual contributors, Perera noted, adding that a 
significant amount of money appears to have been come from 
South Africa through Australia to TRO coffers.  The LTTE is 
adept at hiding money, Perera observed; funds that were 
supposed to have been frozen in the UK after the British 
Charity Commission de-listed the TRO as a charitable 
organization August 10 have nonetheless been successfully 
transferred to White Pigeon, another LTTE front.  Because it 
does not wish to impede ongoing post-tsunami reconstruction 
and humanitarian aid in LTTE-affected areas, the GSL is not 
moving to proscribe the TRO itself, Palihakkara interjected. 
The GSL accepts TRO as an organization in Sri Lanka, but does 
not accept that the TRO has the right to raise funds abroad 
for its activities, he clarified.  The GSL is thus counting 
on "our friends" to take a hard look at funding sources, the 
Foreign Secretary concluded. 
 
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NO HIDDEN MESSAGE IN UN SPECIAL ENVOY VISIT 
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6.  (C) Raising the upcoming visit to Sri Lanka of UN 
official Lakhdar Brahimi (Ref A), Charge' asked if a trip to 
LTTE headquarters in Kilinochchi was scheduled for the 
visitor.  Palihakkara replied that Brahimi is coming as a 
special envoy from UN Secretary General Annan to "review the 
operation of the Ceasefire Agreement"; the human rights 
situation, especially with respect to child soldiers 
recruited by the LTTE; and to determine "what can the UN do" 
to bolster the peace process.  The UN does not envision a 
role as facilitator, Palihakkara stressed.  (Comment:  The 
Norwegians suspect that Brahimi's visit, following so closely 
on recent anti-Norwegian comments from newly appointed 
Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike, is meant to convey GSL 
dissatisfaction at Oslo's facilitation efforts.  End comment.) 
 
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GSL RESPONSE TO KATRINA 
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7.  (SBU)  Charge' expressed U.S. gratitude for the 
condolences offered by President Chandrika Kumaratunga in the 
wake of Hurricane Katrina and for the GSL's pledge of USD 
25,000 to the American Red Cross.  Palihakkara replied that 
although the GSL was able to give only a "token" amount of 
aid, the Sri Lankan government and people "had to do 
something" to show their appreciation of U.S. generosity 
after the tsunami.  He added that the GSL also plans to send 
a consignment of "one or two tons" of instant tea as 
emergency relief; details of the shipment will be provided 
next week. 
 
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COMMENT 
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8.  (C)  The GSL, as Palihakkara has noted to us previously, 
continues to be in the unenviable "dilemma" of urging other 
countries to slap a terrorist designation on an organization 
that the GSL itself, in the interests of furthering the peace 
process, has not proscribed.  The GSL is in an obvious bind: 
it can neither abandon the peace process by designating the 
Tigers itself nor appear "too soft" by not coming down hard 
on the Tigers.  Designations by the EU and Canada would send 
an unmistakable message from the international community 
condemning continued LTTE terrorism. 
ENTWISTLE