US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO322

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000322 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  2-24-13 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, PGOV, PHUM, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Prime Minister address on status of peace 
process, most observers see statement as positive 
 
Refs:  Colombo 274 and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe 
used the February 22 one year anniversary of the formal 
ceasefire to comment on the status of the peace process 
and his vision of what is to come.  Most observers 
viewed his speech with appreciation.  The only 
detractors were those who were to be expected.  Of 
particular interest, however, is how little note the Sri 
Lankan population seems to have taken of the speech. 
End Summary. 
 
The Speech 
========== 
 
2. (U) On February 22 Sri Lanka celebrated one year of 
an official ceasefire between the government and the 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  (Note:  The 
GSL and LTTE announced unilateral ceasefires fourteen 
months ago on December 24, 2001.)  Prime Minister Ranil 
Wickremesinghe used the occasion to address the nation 
on the status of the peace process and to outline where 
he sees the process going.  He stressed that the nation 
is behind the peace process and that those opposed are 
in the minority.  He also commented on President 
Kumaratunga's having initiated many of the policies 
permitting the government to go the route of a 
negotiated settlement. 
 
3. (U) He acknowledged that the LTTE had violated the 
terms of the ceasefire agreement, but that some parts of 
society were exaggerating the scope of the violations. 
He also stressed that the international community is 
playing a role in applying pressure on the LTTE to make 
sure that it complies with international standards human 
rights and democratic standards.  He argued that in the 
end the LTTE will be a political party that must respond 
to its people, but to get there they have to be taken 
into the mainstream.  He further argued that there would 
be difficulties, and that he would welcome any 
recommendations from the opposition on how to overcome 
them. 
 
Reactions 
========= 
 
4. (C)  Within the Tamil community the response to the 
speech was generally positive, but the focus remained on 
the alleged failures of the government to help return 
the north and east to a status of normalcy.  When asked 
about Wickremesinghe's speech, Gajendrakumar 
Ponnambalam, a Tamil National Alliance MP, quickly 
changed the topic to the government's security zones in 
Jaffna.  He then recited the oft-repeated argument that 
the military occupation of vast tracks of land is 
preventing the resettlement of IDP's (see Refs). 
 
5. (C) Fulfilling expectations, Waruna Rajapakse, a 
provincial councilor for the Janantha Vimukthi Peramuna 
(JVP) criticized the speech as a "waste of time."  He 
went on to accuse the government of selling out the 
nation to the LTTE. 
 
6. (C) The views of Jehan Perera, the director of the 
National Peace Council, a well-regarded local think 
tank, were more in line with the overall response to the 
Prime Minister's speech.  He commented that 
Wickremesinghe gave a "very good overview" and was "very 
impressive."  Perera also stressed that it was a 
positive that the PM was taking the people "into his 
confidence." 
 
Comment 
======= 
 
7. (C) Despite continued tensions in the north and east, 
as detailed in Reftels, and promises by the JVP to stage 
massive protests against the ongoing peace process one 
of the more noteworthy aspects of the Prime Minister's 
speech was how little note it received.  While the LTTE 
was staging peace related protests in the north and east 
over the weekend, the population in the south, both 
Tamil and Sinhalese, appear to have adopted a 
complacency towards the current peace process, at least 
for now.  End Comment. 
 
WILLS