US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO643

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000643 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR D, SA, SA/INS, S/CT; NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:   DECL: 04-14-13 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, EAID, ASEC, CE, NO, JA, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Protesting "exclusion" from April 14 seminar, 
Tigers say they might not attend conference in June 
 
Refs:  (A) Colombo-SA/INS 04/14/03 fax 
-      (B) OpsCenter-Colombo 04/13/03 telecon 
-      (C) FBIS Reston Va DTG 121213Z Apr 03 
-      (D) Colombo 589, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons: 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1.  (SBU) In a public statement issued late April 12, 
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization 
announced that it was reviewing its decision to 
participate in the donors conference scheduled to be 
held in Tokyo in June.  The statement, which was posted 
on the pro-LTTE website "TamilNet" and faxed to SA/INS, 
said this "review" was necessitated by the group's 
"deliberate exclusion" from the State Department- 
sponsored Washington seminar re Sri Lanka being held on 
April 14.  (Note:  The LTTE is on the Foreign Terrorist 
Organization list, and, thus, was not issued an 
invitation to participate in the April 14 meeting -- See 
Ref D.) 
 
2.  (SBU) The statement makes no direct mention of the 
U.S.  (Note:  Previous statements by the Tigers on this 
issue have accused the U.S. of trying to "isolate" the 
Tigers by not inviting them to Washington.)  It also 
does not indicate that the group has any plans to end 
its engagement in the peace process.  The group, for 
example, does not threaten to end its participation in 
the ongoing peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, 
nor does it threaten to stop cooperating with the 
Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).  The 
statement, however, does hit out hard against the GSL 
and the Norwegian government facilitators, complaining 
that they picked the wrong venue (i.e., Washington) to 
hold the seminar (as the LTTE could not attend).  The 
statement also goes on to criticize what the LTTE sees 
as the GSL's failure to draw down the military's "high 
security zones" in Jaffna, stating: 
 
"The irreconcilable attitude of the Sri Lankan military 
hierarchy, and the impotence of (Prime Minister) Ranil 
Wickremesinghe's administration have made all programs 
of resettling and rehabilitating hundreds of thousands 
of Tamil refugees and IDPs (displaced persons) 
unrealizable.  The very efficacy of the negotiating 
process has become questionable since decisions and 
agreements reached at the peace talks are not being 
implemented (thus) eroding the confidence of the Tamil 
people." 
 
3.  (C) With Sri Lanka completely shut down in 
celebration of Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, there has 
been little reaction to the LTTE's statement as of yet. 
We managed to reach two Tamil contacts, however. 
N. Raviraj, a MP for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) 
who has a difficult relationship with the LTTE (see 
Ref D), told us that many Tamils were talking about the 
LTTE's statement.  Raviraj said Tamils he had spoken 
with felt that it was very unfortunate that the group 
was speaking of possibly boycotting a conference meant 
to bring aid to the war-torn north/east.  V. Thevaraj, 
editor of "Virakesari," a Tamil-language newspaper, 
thought that the LTTE's announcement was not a "good 
thing" for the peace process.  He said the announcement 
was clearly sparked by the Tigers' deep anger at not 
being invited to the Washington seminar. 
 
4.  (C) COMMENT:  The LTTE's announcement is clearly a 
highly emotional one.  In making the statement, however, 
it is positive that the group did not threaten to 
withdraw from the peace talks.  (Note:  The seventh 
round of talks is scheduled to take place April 29 - 
May 2 in Bangkok, although the venue may be changed due 
to the SARS epidemic.)  That said, the language used in 
the statement re the GSL is quite sharp.  The Tigers' 
threat to boycott the donors conference is a bit 
bizarre.  As mentioned above, a key aspect of the 
meeting is to organize assistance to the north and east, 
including LTTE-controlled areas.  The Tigers, of course, 
have a long history of cutting off their nose to spite 
their face, but their threat to boycott the conference 
could well be a bluff given their clear interest in 
seeing it go forward.  END COMMENT. 
 
5. (U) Minimize considered. 
 
WILLS