US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO715

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000715 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, S/CT 
 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  04-25-13 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINS, CE, NO, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Key minister expresses confidence that talks 
will get back on track; Opposition hits out at Norway 
 
Refs:  (A) FBIS Reston Va DTG 250310Z APR 03 
 
-      (B) Colombo 707, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons:  1.5 (B, D). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  In an April 24 press conference, 
Minister G.L. Peiris, the government's chief spokesman 
and negotiator, expressed confidence that the peace 
process will get back on track.  He noted that the GSL's 
formal reply to the Tigers' statement pulling out of the 
peace talks was still being put together.  In other 
news, the Opposition is hitting out hard against the 
Norwegian facilitation effort.  Despite Peiris' 
relatively upbeat tone, the Tigers have given no 
indication they are backing down.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (SBU) KEY MINISTER'S COMMENTS:  In an April 24 press 
conference, a key Sri Lankan government minister has 
expressed confidence that the peace process will get 
back on track.  Government spokesman and chief 
negotiator Minister G.L. Peiris told reporters that the 
GSL was confident about settling issues related to the 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) April 21 pullout 
from the peace talks.  (Note:  Per Ref B, in another 
negative signal, the LTTE on April 24 postponed the next 
meeting of a key humanitarian assistance committee.) 
Underscoring that he thought the problems leading to the 
suspension of the talks were really quite "limited," 
Minister Peiris said what mattered now was not to assign 
blame, but rather to look at means by which talks could 
be resumed.  "We have to recognize that there is a 
limited problem and try to resolve it...It is certainly 
not the end of the peace process," he said.  (Note:  See 
Septel for local reaction to Ambassador Wills' April 24 
remarks re the Tigers' pullout from the talks.) 
 
3.  (SBU) In conciliatory remarks toward the LTTE, 
Peiris said the government would continue to work on 
ways to reduce the size of the Jaffna military exclusion 
zones, especially the troop presence in Jaffna city.  He 
went on to emphasize that the ceasefire agreement was 
still in place, there was no threat of war starting 
again, or a need for security to be strengthened due to 
the suspension of talks.  (Note:  Per Ref B, President 
Kumaratunga and members of her party have been turning 
up the heat on the government, urging it to return to 
emergency security measures in light of the Tigers' 
pullout from the talks.) 
 
4.  (SBU) Peiris said he expected dialogue with the LTTE 
to resume sooner rather than later and he said he 
thought the group would reconsider its decision not to 
attend the donors conference slated to take place in 
Tokyo in June.  Regarding a formal response to the 
Tiger's April 21 statement, Peiris noted that the GSL's 
formal reply was still being put together, but should be 
ready by next week.  (Note:  Prime Minister 
Wickremesinghe had sent the Tigers a placeholder 
response on April 22 -- see Ref B.)  When asked, Peiris 
conceded that as far as he knew the Norwegian government 
facilitators had not managed to speak with chief Tiger 
negotiator Anton Balasingham this week and were having 
problems getting responses from other LTTE officials. 
(Note:  Per Peiris' comments, the Norwegians have 
confirmed as much to us re LTTE non-communicativeness. 
We also hear from the British High Commission that the 
London-based Balasingham is refusing to talk to the 
HMG.) 
 
5.  (C) PRESSURE ON NORWEGIANS:  In other peace process- 
related news, the Opposition political parties continue 
to ramp up their criticism of the Norwegian facilitation 
effort, harshly accusing the GoN of favoring the LTTE. 
The most recent criticism centers around a yet to be 
fully developed proposal by the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka 
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that would grant recognition 
to the Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the LTTE, to 
operate in Sri Lanka's coastal waters under certain 
conditions.  (Note:  There have been a number of 
confrontations at sea between the LTTE and the GSL, and 
both sides had tasked the SLMM to look into the matter.) 
The Opposition has accused the SLMM of trying to 
"divide" Sri Lanka and strengthen the LTTE via its work 
on this matter.  Taking matters further, the National 
Bhikku Front, an organization of Buddhist monks 
affiliated with the radical Janantha Vimukthi Peramuna 
(JVP) party, marched on the Norwegian Embassy on 
April 24 to protest against the SLMM.  When we spoke to 
him, Norwegian embassy Polchief Tomas Stangeland 
downplayed the march, noting that it was one of many 
anti-peace process demonstrations and that it was in 
fact smaller than some previous marches.  While noting 
that the criticism by the Opposition was getting a bit 
annoying, Stangeland stressed that the GoN would 
continue its facilitation efforts until told not to by 
the GSL and the LTTE. 
 
6.  (C) COMMENT:  Since the start of the peace process 
in late 2001, G.L. Peiris has proven to be a chronic 
optimist, searching for positive signs in every negative 
event.  His April 24 remarks, while measured, conformed 
to the norm in their relatively upbeat, conciliatory 
nature.  Thus far, however, the Tigers have given no 
sign they are backing down.  Given the fact they are 
being whipsawed by the LTTE and hammered by the 
Opposition, the Norwegians are clearly having a tough 
time finding a way to sort things out.  (Note:  The LTTE 
will be striking a particularly militaristic pose for 
the next several days:  Tiger celebrations of the 
group's 2000 seizure of the key Elephant Pass access 
point between Jaffna Peninsula and the mainland reach 
their apotheosis on April 28.)  END COMMENT. 
 
7.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
WILLS