US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO1092

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001092 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, S/CT, EUR/NB 
 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958:   DECL:  06-23-13 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINS, PHUM, CE, NO, UK, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Facilitators slated to meet Sri Lankan PM in 
London and, in separate meeting, will try to meet Tigers 
 
Refs:  Colombo 1085, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Donald Camp, Charge d'Affaires. 
Reasons:  1.5 (b,d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Norwegian facilitators are scheduled 
to meet with PM Wickremesinghe in London late June 23. 
The Tamil Tigers' London-based spokesman Anton 
Balasingham has also indicated that he will try to meet 
the GoN team.  In other peace process-related 
developments, local elections in the north/east have 
been postponed following a Supreme Court ruling.  The 
recent uptick in activity by the facilitators is 
potentially good news for the stalled peace process. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) LONDON MEETING WITH PM:  Norwegian government 
facilitators are scheduled to meet with Sri Lankan Prime 
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in London late June 23. 
(Note:  The PM is in the UK from June 22-28.  After his 
meetings in London, including with PM Blair, he is 
scheduled to go on a brief vacation to Scotland.)  Tomas 
Stangeland, polchief at the Norwegian Embassy, told us 
that Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and Special 
Envoy Erik Solheim hoped to use the meeting to review 
ways to break the stalemate affecting Sri Lanka's peace 
process.  Specifically, Stangeland said the Norwegian 
team wanted to use the meeting to review the 
government's thinking on ways to meet the LTTE's demand 
for the immediate formation of an interim administration 
in the north/east.  (Note:  In a national TV address 
given on June 19, the PM pledged that his government was 
willing to create such an interim structure, but he did 
not provide much by way of details -- See Reftels.) 
 
3.  (C) GON-LTTE MEETING LIKELY:  The Tamil Tigers' 
London-based spokesman Anton Balasingham has also agreed 
to try to meet the Norwegian team.  While a time and 
place for the meeting has not yet been set, Stangeland 
thought it likely that the meeting would take place 
either on June 24 or 25.  As far as the agenda of the 
meeting, Stangeland said the Norwegian side planned to 
take up the interim administration issue by passing the 
LTTE any additional information it gleans on the matter 
from PM Wickremesinghe.  Stangeland said the GoN hoped 
that the meeting with Balasingham produced a 
constructive discussion, such as the one that the 
Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka had with Tiger 
officials on June 18 (see Reftels). 
 
4.  (C) When queried, Stangeland said he doubted that 
Balasingham would be meeting with any of the high-level 
GSL officials who are visiting London as part of the 
prime minister's delegation.  (Note:  The PM's 
delegation includes Ministers G.L. Peiris and Milinda 
Moragoda, two key GSL figures on peace process matters.) 
While not fully discounting the possibility of such a 
meeting, Stangeland said he did not think that the 
Tigers would agree to one unless they thought that the 
GSL had taken solid steps toward meeting their demands. 
 
5.  (SBU) LOCAL ELECTIONS IN NE POSTPONED:  In other 
peace process-related developments, the government has 
postponed local elections in the north/east until early 
next year.  The GSL's move follows an adverse ruling by 
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on June 18.  In its 
complicated decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the 
government needed a two-thirds or more majority in 
Parliament in order to pass a bill it had submitted that 
would allow parties to adjust their original ballot 
nominations for the elections.  Explaining its ruling, 
the Supreme Court said the bill's particulars were too 
important simply to require majority support and needed 
a "super-majority."  (Note:  As with the other local 
elections in Sri Lanka, those in the north/east had been 
originally scheduled to take place in early 2002.  For 
various reasons, the GSL postponed the north/east 
elections until the second half of 2003, while the local 
elections in other areas went ahead in 2002.  In moving 
forward its bill, the GSL was trying to meet the demand 
of several Tamil parties -- who were apparently backed 
by the LTTE -- that the original ballot nominations be 
scrapped and re-submitted.  End Note.) 
 
6.  (C) The impact of the Supreme Court's ruling was to 
effectively undermine the government's bill.  Explaining 
the situation, Joseph Pararajahsingham, a MP with the 
Tamil National Alliance, told us that the GSL simply 
could not get the two-thirds or more support necessary 
to pass the bill.  (Note:  The governing coalition 
controls at most 130 of the 225 seats in Parliament and 
is basically unable to get the 150-plus votes needed for 
bills requiring two-thirds or more support.) 
Pararajahsingham, who maintains close links with the 
LTTE, said it was unfortunate that the government had 
been forced to postpone the elections again.  Noting 
that he thought the nomination lists should be revised, 
he said people in the north and east wanted the vote to 
take place as soon as possible, so the local councils 
could become active again.  (Note:  Since early 2003, 
the local councils in the north/east have become 
inactive due to the fact that office holders have had to 
leave office as their terms ended.  Without fresh 
elections, there is no one to replace the former office 
holders.) 
 
7.  (C) COMMENT:  The recent uptick in activity by the 
facilitators is potentially good news for the stalled 
peace process.  After a brief hiatus in contacts, the 
Norwegians met with the Tigers last week and -- as 
reviewed above -- seem likely to meet Balasingham in 
London this week.  Through these meetings, hopefully, 
the Norwegians will be able to help break the current 
impasse, so that talks can start up again.  That said, 
there is little indication that the Tigers plan to be 
especially accommodating unless the government takes 
steps toward forming an interim structure in the 
north/east.  END COMMENT. 
 
8.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
CAMP