US embassy cable - 05HELSINKI1015

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 001015 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KTFN, PTER, PREL, CO, FI, Terrorism 
SUBJECT: FINLAND WILL NOT (YET) SUPPORT LISTING THE LTTE AS 
A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION 
 
REF: STATE 172115 
 
Classified By: POLCHIEF GREGORY THOME, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1. (C) PolChief delivered subject demarche to Ambassador 
Mikko Pyhala, MFA office director for South Asia.  Pyhala 
noted that the GOF has publicly denounced the assassination 
of the Sri Lankan foreign minister and continues to condemn 
the LTTE both for other murders attributed to it and for its 
use of child soldiers.  However, he added, Finland did not 
support the listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization 
when the subject came up at a Sept. 7 EU clearinghouse 
meeting, and would not do so at an upcoming Oct. 10 meeting. 
 
2. (C) Pyhala explained that the GOF has engaged in its own 
direct mediation effort with the LTTE, to include hosting 
visits for LTTE leaders to Finland.  Finland also 
participates actively in the 52 member Nordic monitoring 
mission in Sri Lanka.  Via these avenues, Pyhala said, the 
GOF has made progress in convincing the LTTE to be more 
forthcoming toward the peace process.  Were Finland now to 
support listing the LTTE as a terrorist organization, the 
GOF's ability to influence both the LTTE and the overall 
peace process would be lost.  As such, Pyhala concluded, 
Finland is not yet ready formally to abandon its diplomatic 
efforts, even though it has, de facto, frozen all contact 
with the LTTE for now in the wake of the Kadirgamar 
assassination.  Pyhala agreed that the LTTE continues to 
engage in tactics that make it difficult to work with it in 
good faith, and he emphasized that the GOF would not rule out 
listing LTTE at some point in the future. 
MACK