US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1830

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001830 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PHUM, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: SNAPSHOTS FROM TRINCOMALEE 
 
 
Classified By: POL PATRICIA MAHONEY. Reason: 1.4(B,D) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: On October 19, the Ambassador traveled to the 
eastern district of Trincomalee for a a series of meetings 
with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), Trincomalee Government Agent 
(GA) K.G. Leelananda, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and 
an NGO roundtable hosted by USAID.  Interlocutors said the 
security situation remains tense in Trincomalee with frequent 
grenade attacks on military sentry posts, most resulting in 
little or no damage.  The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) continues to recruit children. The Tamil population is 
cooperative with the police but deeply distrustful of the SLA 
and its sometimes heavy-handed tactics according to the SLMM. 
Post-Tsunami reconstruction is painfully slow with only 29 of 
the needed 6000 permanent housing units completed. 
Interlocutors reported a comparative lack of interest in the 
race among local voters.  Authorities are expecting a 60% 
voter turn out and are arranging to assist up to 20,000 
Tamils in crossing  from LTTE-controlled territory to 
government controlled polling stations. END SUMMARY. 
 
WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS? 
----------------------- 
2.  (C) The Ambassador, accompanied by POLOFF, DATT and ARSO 
visited Trincomalee district on October 19 and met with a 
variety of military, government and NGO officials.  The 
district is almost evenly divided between the Muslim, Tamil 
and Sinhala populations, with Tamils a 68 per cent majority 
within the town limits.  The SLA maintains a highly visible 
security presence, with soldiers in full body armor.  This 
summer brought an increase in "grenade" attacks on security 
checkpoints. Arthur Tveiten, head of the local SLMM office, 
opined that a lack of casualties or even shrapnel damage 
after the attacks points to improvised explosive devices 
rather than proper military hand grenades.  The commanding 
general of the 22nd infantry division reported only one death 
in over 30 grenade attacks over the last three months.  The 
SLA suspects that hastily trained irregulars, rather than 
LTTE cadres, were conducting most of the attacks.  Following 
such an attack, the SLA will deploy to an area and conduct 
house to house searches.  The SLMM believes that these 
searches often continue a week to ten days after the attack, 
intimidating the Tamil population as a form of punishment. 
According to the SLA, 78 cases of child recruitment were 
reported in the last three months.  INGO representatives 
agreed that the LTTE continues to recruit or coerce minors 
into their ranks.  All parties agree that the majority of 
incidents go unreported.  NGOs involved in housing complained 
that the commanding general of Trincomalee had created 
burdensome paperwork and inspection procedures to obstruct 
construction material from going to the uncleared areas. 
 
HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN 
------------------------- 
3.  (SBU) Trincomalee has a need for 6000 permanent houses, 
of which,  GA Leelananda reported, ground has broken on 600. 
 The UNHCR said that of those 600, only 29 are completed. 
Leelananda admitted that, although slow getting off the mark, 
his office now had MOUs signed with donor organizations and 
was expecting housing construction to accelerate.  The GA has 
identified six transitional housing zones as vulnerable to 
monsoon flooding and is ready to handle their evacuation if 
necessary.  Housing for Life, a USAID partner organization, 
reports that transitional housing design and construction in 
the district vary in ability to withstand monsoon rains. 
Houses range from having a concrete slab four inches above 
the ground to a three foot foundation wall capable of 
withstanding several days of rain.  The GA said he learned of 
the new coastal buffer zone regulations through the 
newspaper. To date, he has not received details or guidance 
from Colombo.  There is much confusion among the displaced 
over the new policy, according to the INGOs.  In a positive 
development, the UNHCR reported that the GSL and some NGOs 
were ready to support getting conflict internally displaced 
persons (CIDPs) into permanent houses.  This change will 
improve the lives of most people living in two major welfare 
centers for IDPs and could result in the closure of those 
centers in the future. 
 
BULLETS OR BALLOTS 
------------------ 
4.  (SBU) The November 17 presidential election raises many 
challenges for the authorities in Trincomalee.  Leelananda is 
predicting a 60 per cent voter turnout.  This includes an 
estimated 20,000 Tamils coming from LTTE-controlled areas to 
exercise their right.  To accommodate the voters coming from 
LTTE territory, the GA has arranged bus transportation to 
shuttle the voters to 100 polling stations.  Since 
Trincomalee is always at the point of boiling over, according 
to Leelananda, the police and armed forces have established a 
joint security plan to suppress election violence.  Oddly, 
despite the high level of interest in Colombo, both the NGOs 
and the GA have said there is little talk of elections among 
the general population.  LTTE political head Thamilchelvan's 
comment that neither southern Sinhalese Buddhist candidate 
can address the needs of the Tamil people may minimize Tamil 
voter turnout. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
5.  (C) While spared the daily killings of the shadow war in 
adjoining Batticaloa district, Trincomalee remains a coiled 
spring.  The armed forces appear to have the situation in 
hand, but mistrust of the Sinhalese soldiers persists among 
Tamil residents.  Having made the right decision in relaxing 
the coastal buffer zone requirements,  the GSL should act 
quickly to ensure officials in the affected areas - like the 
GA in Trincomalee - are given adequate guidelines for 
implementation.  The Ambassador raised the issue of ensuring 
voters from uncleared areas would be able to vote with both 
the GA and the SLA commander and received assurances from 
both.  This could be an important factor in what looks like a 
close election. 
LUNSTEAD