US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO450

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, S/CT; NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  3-17-03 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINS, PINR, CE, NO, JA, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  LTTE to participate in sixth round of talks in 
Japan -- and says it will raise ship incident 
 
Refs:  (A) Oslo 506 
-      (B) Colombo 430 and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  After much back-and-forth, the Tigers 
have decided to attend the sixth round of talks slated 
to take place in Japan, March 18-21.  In agreeing to 
attend, the Tigers have made clear they will complain 
about the recent sinking of one of their ships by the 
navy.  The Norwegian facilitators have called for the 
ceasefire accord to be modified so as to prevent a 
repetition of such incidents.  The talks appear bound to 
be contentious.  END SUMMARY. 
 
====================== 
LTTE will attend talks 
====================== 
 
2.  (SBU) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
have decided to participate in the sixth round of talks 
with the GSL slated to be held March 18-21 in Hakone, 
Japan.  The Tigers' decision comes after much back-and- 
forth in the past week, as the group vociferously 
complained about the March 10 sinking of one of their 
supply ships by the Sri Lankan navy (see Ref B). 
Indeed, at times, the LTTE strongly hinted it would not 
attend the talks due to the March 10 incident.  Concerns 
on this score were heightened when LTTE leader V. 
Prabhakaran refused to meet Norwegian Deputy Foreign 
Minister Vidar Helgesen during the latter's visit to the 
LTTE-controlled Wanni region last week.  While LTTE 
chief negotiator Anton Balasingham and political chief 
S.P. Thamilchelvam did meet Helgesen, Prabhakaran was 
said to be in a high-level meeting examining next steps 
for the peace process in light of the March 10 incident. 
In the end, the Tigers decided to participate, signaling 
their final decision to the GSL over the March 15-16 
weekend. 
 
3.  (U) On March 17, with the talks set, the Sri Lankan 
government's Peace Secretariat confirmed the following 
makeup of the GSL and LTTE delegations: 
 
GSL: 
-- G.L. Peiris, Minister of Constitutional Affairs 
-- Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Economic Reform 
-- Rauf Hakeem, Minister of Ports and Shipping 
-- Defense Secretary Austin Fernando. 
-- Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke, head of the peace 
Secretariat 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LTTE: 
-- Anton Balasingham, chief LTTE spokesman and chief 
negotiator 
-- Adele Balasingham, delegation's secretary and wife of 
Anton Balasingham 
-- S.P. Thamilchelvam, political chief 
-- Karuna, eastern region commander 
-- Kumaran Pulithevan, head of the LTTE's Peace 
Secretariat 
 
SIPDIS 
-- Suthakaran, LTTE media unit 
-- J. Maheswaran, Tamil Rehabilitation Organization 
 
(((Note:  Both delegations are basically unchanged from 
those that attended previous rounds.  Re the GSL team, 
Hakeem had argued that he should be allowed to lead a 
separate Muslim group to the talks, but was overruled by 
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.))) 
 
============================= 
Tigers to raise Ship Incident 
============================= 
 
4. (SBU) In agreeing to attend the talks, the LTTE made 
clear it would use them to complain about the March 10 
ship incident.  In a March 15 posting on TamilNet, a 
pro-LTTE website, for example, Balasingham was quoted as 
stating:  "Our leadership felt that expressing direct 
condemnation of the Sri Lankan navy for sinking our 
merchant vessel in most severe terms at the talks to the 
government, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), and 
the international community would be more appropriate at 
this juncture (than boycotting the talks)."  (Note:  The 
Tigers continue to stir up trouble on-the-ground over 
the March 10 incident.  As has been their practice in 
the last several days, the Tigers are sponsoring general 
strikes in areas of the north and east protesting the 
incident.  The latest strike took place in Batticaloa 
and Ampara districts in the east today.  Many stores and 
offices were forced to close and transport stopped in 
these areas.) 
 
========================================== 
Norwegians want to review Ceasefire Accord 
========================================== 
 
5.  (C) Per Ref A, in acknowledging the difficulties 
arising from the March 10 incident and previous 
confrontations at sea, the Norwegian facilitators have 
signaled that the February 2002 ceasefire agreement 
could usefully be reviewed.  In March 14 public remarks, 
for example, DFM Helgesen made clear that the two sides 
should work out modalities on how to deal with each 
other at sea, so that there is no more violence. 
Helgesen also indicated that the issue of each sides' 
detaining of the other's troops needs review.  (Note: 
The LTTE, in particular, has on several occasions 
"arrested" GSL soldiers and police, effectively holding 
them captive for weeks at a time.) 
 
6.  (SBU) (((Note:  FYI.  The Norwegian-run SLMM has 
released its report on the March 10 incident.  In the 
report, the SLMM ruled that it could not make a final 
determination about the incident due to a lack of 
information, caused by neither sides' contacting it 
regarding the incident until it was too late.  In 
comments that jibe with those of Helgesen's above, the 
report went on to stress that the SLMM was willing to 
work out modalities between the LTTE and GSL in order to 
avert future clashes.))) 
 
7.  (SBU) In addition to security-related issues, the 
sixth round is also slated to focus on the delivery of 
development assistance, resettlement issues, and human 
rights. 
 
======= 
COMMENT 
======= 
 
8. (C) While it is positive that the Tigers are on board 
for the talks (it would have been a serious setback for 
peace if they had boycotted), the Hakone round seems 
bound to be contentious.  The Tigers are clearly 
planning to use the talks as a soapbox to criticize the 
government over the March 10 incident.  That said, if 
the Norwegians can successfully focus the talks on ways 
to improve the ceasefire accord, the negotiations could 
prove constructive.  In particular, as Helgesen has 
noted, the two sides clearly need to address the issue 
of how to handle LTTE resupply efforts.  Continued 
military engagements at sea over the issue are roiling 
the peace process.  If the process is to gain back its 
momentum, modalities of some sort need to be worked out 
in this area.  Whether the two sides have the patience 
or even inclination to do this in the current sour 
atmosphere appears a tough sell and is a test of the 
process' long-term viability.  END COMMENT. 
 
9. (U) Minimize considered. 
WILLS