US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO773

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000773 
 
SIPDIS 
 
ISLAMABAD PLS PASS TO SA A/S ROCCA 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, S/CT, INR/NESA 
 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  05-08-13 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINR, EAID, CE, NO, JA, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Tigers meet Japanese envoy and are 
noncommittal about returning to talks 
 
Refs:  (A) OpsCenter-Colombo 05/08/03 telecon 
 
-      (B) FBIS Reston Va DTG 070711z May 03 
-      (C) Colombo 764, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b, d) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Japanese envoy Akashi met May 7 with 
Tiger leader Prabhakaran and pressed the LTTE to return 
to the peace talks.  Akashi also gave the Tigers one 
week to make a final decision on whether they will 
attend the June donors conference in Tokyo.  Prabhakaran 
was noncommittal, although he indicated the Tigers would 
be cooperative if the GSL met their long-standing 
demands re assistance and security.  At this point, it's 
not clear what the Tigers will do, but they seem to have 
climbed down somewhat from their previous hard-line 
positioning.  END SUMMARY 
 
2.  (U) MEETING PRABHAKARAN:  A Japanese government 
delegation led by Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi met with 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. 
Prabhakaran on May 7.  The meeting took place in the 
LTTE-controlled town of Kilinochchi in northern Sri 
Lanka.  A large Japanese team, which included Ambassador 
to Sri Lanka Seiichiro Otsuka, participated in the 
meeting.  Visiting London-based LTTE spokesman Anton 
Balasingham, political chief S.P. Thamilchelvam, and J. 
Maheswaran, an Australia-based LTTE official, also 
attended the meeting. 
 
3.  (C) JAPANESE READOUT:  Ambassador Otsuka provided 
Ambassador Wills a readout of the Kilinochchi talks 
early May 8.  Otsuka said the two-hour meeting was "very 
cordial and not at all confrontational."  In terms of 
substance, he noted that while it was "good", it was not 
"conclusive" in that the LTTE had not agreed to return 
to the peace talks and to attend the June donors 
conference in Tokyo.  Otsuka noted that Akashi had 
pressed these issues twice and received essentially 
noncommittal responses both times.  Akashi had also 
pressed Prabhakaran on other issues, such as human 
rights.  In addition, he had urged the Tigers to return 
to the Sub-Committee for Immediate Humanitarian and 
Rehabilitation Needs in the North and East (SIHRN). 
(Note:  The Tigers pulled out of this joint committee 
late last month.) 
 
4.  (C) Otsuka said Prabhakaran, who rarely meets with 
foreigners, listened intently to all of Akashi's points. 
In his comments, Prabhakaran stressed that progress had 
not been made in the delivery of humanitarian and 
developmental assistance because the SIHRN committee was 
"not efficient."  He also complained that the North/East 
Reconstruction Fund (NERF) was not yet operating and 
funding projects.  Prabhakaran went on to touch on long- 
standing LTTE concerns about Tamil displaced persons 
related to the issue of the military presence in Jaffna 
District (see more below in Para 8).  Despite his 
noncommittal reaction, Prabhakaran did not fully 
discount the possibility that the Tigers would 
eventually come back to the talks and decide to attend 
the Tokyo meeting.  He did, however, make very clear 
that there had to be progress on issues of Tiger concern 
before the group would do so.  Akashi emphasized that 
the Tigers had one week to decide whether or not they 
were coming to Tokyo. 
 
5.  (C) Sharing a small vignette, Otsuka related that 
the Japanese side had brought along its own interpreter 
to the meeting.  (Note:  Most visitors in meetings with 
the LTTE rely on the group's interpreter who is named 
"George."  George has often been accused of spinning his 
translations.)  After the meeting, the GoJ interpreter 
told Otsuka that at one point Balasingham had said, "We 
suspended the peace talks to get concessions." (Note: 
This statement tends to highlight the tactical nature of 
the LTTE's recent moves.)  In another vignette, Otsuka 
commented that Prabhakaran had told him during the more 
social atmosphere of the lunch following the meeting 
that his son, Charles Anthony, was studying martial 
arts.  A lively discussion on the matter ensued when 
Otsuka noted that he had a brown belt in karate.  (Note: 
Charles Anthony, who is believed to be in London, is 
approximately 17 years old.  Prabhakaran is believed to 
have another son and one daughter with him at his key 
base in Mullaitivu in northeast Sri Lanka.) 
 
6.  (U) (((Note:  In other peace process news:  early 
May 8 the pro-LTTE website "TamilNet" posted an article 
on the Akashi-Prabhakaran meeting complete with several 
photos.  The article was relatively upbeat and its 
substance largely jibed with Otsuka's readout.  The 
article noted that at the close of the meeting 
Prabhakaran had given Akashi a "Tamil Eelam" map and 
insignia.))) 
 
7.  (SBU) (((Note:  Following up Deputy Foreign Minister 
Helgesen's recent visit and the latest efforts by the 
Japanese, Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim is slated 
to meet Balasingham in the Wanni on May 8.  Solheim's 
brief is believed to be identical to Helgesen's and 
Akashi's, i.e., try to convince the Tigers to come back 
to the talks and attend the June donors conference.))) 
 
8.  (C) (((Note:  In another peace process development, 
Defense Minister Marapana announced May 7 that the GSL 
was planning a large-scale reorganization of its forces 
in Jaffna District.  The idea behind the reorganization 
would be to amalgamate forces in Jaffna, and, thus, 
permit more civilian land use.  The plan is clearly 
meant to appease the Tigers, who have long claimed that 
the military's bases in Jaffna - especially the so- 
called "high security zones" there - are too large.  See 
DATT's Septel re the GSL proposal and the military's 
reaction to it.))) 
 
9.  (C) COMMENT:  The Norwegians and the Japanese have 
certainly been giving it their all in working to 
convince the Tigers to return to the negotiating track. 
There seems to be some movement by the Tigers in that 
they appear to have climbed down somewhat from their 
previous hard-line positioning.  The group, for example, 
has re-opened lines of communication and adopted a less 
shrill tone.  In fact, the U.S. can take some credit for 
this shift, as the Tigers' move toward a more moderate 
posture dates from their response to the U.S. statement 
on their pullout from the talks.  (Note:  In other 
potentially positive news, we understand that FCO 
officials had a good give-and-take with Balasingham on 
May 4 just before he came to Sri Lanka.  In their 
previous attempt to meet with him, Balasingham had 
rudely told them he did not want to talk.)  All that 
said, it's still not clear what the Tigers plan to do 
and whether they will be back in the ballgame soon.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
10.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
WILLS