US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO542

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000542 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  03/31/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PTER, PINR, PARM, Political Parties, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  PRESIDENT KUMARATUNGA PROCLAIMS SHE IS PRO-PEACE, 
PRO-FEDERALISM, PRO-ISH-JVP AND ANTI-UNP 
 
Classified By:  Ambassador E. Ashley Wills.  Reasons 1.5, B, D. 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  President Kumaratunga convoked the 
diplomatic corps on short notice Monday, March 31, to discuss 
current events.  Iraq did not come up.  She assured us all 
that she is for peace and a federal solution and is also 
inclining toward an alliance with the hard left JVP.  She 
also proclaimed her support for the Tokyo Donors Conference. 
And as usual, she trashed the PM and his party.  Afterward, 
she told me she would receive me privately later this week. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) President Kumaratunga returned from abroad on 
Friday, March 28, and convoked all Ambassadors to her 
official residence March 31.  She arrived half an hour late 
and announced she had nothing "dramatic" to say but wanted us 
to have the benefit of her views on current affairs.  In the 
event, she was correct about the lack of drama.  In her 
45-minute presentation, she covered three subjects: 
cohabitation, the economy and peace.  The q's and a's were 
more interesting. 
 
3.  (C) On cohabitation, the President, as is her custom, 
trashed the PM and his party.  Although she was willing to 
make it work and at all times had acted "with extreme 
restraint and only out of concern for the people", the PM and 
his Cabinet colleagues had behaved "abominably".  She accused 
Ranil of ordering the murder of "60 PA cadre", the torching 
of "over 3,000" PA cadres' private homes and the "routine" 
mistreatment of her.  Despite this, she remained willing to 
try to make it work but didn't think it would.  On the 
economy, she characterized the government's policies as 
"incoherent" and "unsuccessful". 
 
4.  (C) She dwelled a bit on peace.  She told us her views 
had not changed and that she remained committed to a 
peaceful, negotiated outcome.  But any settlement must pay 
due regard to democratic principles and human rights, she 
asserted, and must be arrived at transparently.  "I am more 
committed to peace than anyone in this country," she 
proclaimed, but she has "no clue" what the government's plan 
is.  She expressed her hope that someday the government would 
"bring her, and the people of the country" into its 
confidence.  She added a coda to her rif on peace:  she hoped 
we had noticed that after "all six rounds" of the talks 
between the GSL and the Tigers, Anton Balasingham had either 
"threatened or vilified the head of the Sri Lankan state." 
This, the head of the Sri Lankan state declared, was "rude 
and intolerable" and might well be "at the behest of the UNP." 
 
5.  (C) The q's and a's following her remarks were spicier. 
The Egyptian Ambassador asked her if she intended to enter 
into an alliance with the (hard left) JVP.  CBK replied that 
"the peace process will not be hampered by arrangements that 
might be arrived at with the JVP, which has moved away from 
its anti-negotiations line."  She said her party and the JVP 
"were still ironing out a few details" but gave us all the 
impression the deal is nearly done.  "If we can negotiate 
with the undemocratic LTTE, why not with the JVP?", she asked 
rhetorically.  "The JVP has accepted that the economy will be 
based on the free market . . .it has a strong belief in good 
governance, democracy and equality . . ", the President 
continued, "and is much more forthright and principled than 
the UNP." 
 
6.  (C) The Swiss Ambassador asked for her views and those 
of the JVP on federalism.  She ducked the latter part of his 
question but announced that she personally favored federalism 
as the correct model for Sri Lanka.  The Japanese Charge 
asked her whether she supported the Tokyo Donors Conference 
scheduled for June.  "Any donors conference is good for Sri 
Lanka," the President declared, but she hoped donors would 
focus as well on the importance of human rights, pluralism 
and democratic governance country wide.  Finally, the 
Pakistani HC asked for her assessment of whether the LTTE can 
be transformed into a political organization.  CBK replied 
that we should consult political scientists and psychiatrists 
to guess the future of the LTTE . . . but in her view the 
majority of Tiger cadre wanted peace and democracy while the 
leaders' opinions were completely unknown to her. 
 
7.  (C) Afterwards, over tea, she approached me and 
apologized for missing our scheduled appointment last week. 
She had stayed in London for a few extra days to attend to 
family business.  She said she would call me this week to fix 
a new time for our private chat. 
 
8.  (C) COMMENT:  I was a little concerned that the President 
intended this meeting as a forum for her (extremely critical) 
views regarding our resort to force against Saddam's regime, 
but the subject did not come up.  I was glad it didn't 
because I was seated directly across from the Iraqi Charge, 
with whom I exchanged baleful glares a couple of times, and 
quite near the Swedish CDA, who assaulted me last night at a 
dinner party over our "immoral" policy in West Asia (the 
Swede revealed herself to be thoroughly anti-American, and I 
revealed to her certain anti-Swedish tendencies on my part). 
I would have hated seeing the two of them gloat while I was 
dressed down by the President. 
 
9.  (C) CBK was as charming as ever, even as she delivered 
yet another indictment of the PM and his government.  Her 
comments on the pending alliance with the JVP do not console 
me or any other Western CoM (although perhaps the idiot 
Swedish CDA is an exception).  Bringing the JVP into the 
official opposition will benefit its radical agenda and hurt 
the chances of peace and economic growth, the US's top two 
interests in Sri Lanka.  END SUMMARY. 
 
WILLS