Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02COLOMBO1553
2002-08-23 02:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

SRI LANKA: DEPUTY SECRETARY MEETS PRIME MINISTER:

Tags:  EAID PGOV PINS PREL PTER CE ECONOMICS LTTE 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001553 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR S, D, P, SA; NSC FOR MILLARD; CINCPAC FOR
POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2007
TAGS: EAID PGOV PINS PREL PTER CE ECONOMICS LTTE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: DEPUTY SECRETARY MEETS PRIME MINISTER:
WAR, PEACE, TERRORISM, DEVELOPMENT

Classified By: Ambassador E. Ashley Wills; reasons 1.5 (b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001553

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR S, D, P, SA; NSC FOR MILLARD; CINCPAC FOR
POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2007
TAGS: EAID PGOV PINS PREL PTER CE ECONOMICS LTTE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: DEPUTY SECRETARY MEETS PRIME MINISTER:
WAR, PEACE, TERRORISM, DEVELOPMENT

Classified By: Ambassador E. Ashley Wills; reasons 1.5 (b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a very cordial half-hour August 22
meeting (followed by a press conference and a working dinner)
with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Deputy
Secretary Armitage stressed US support for the GSL's ongoing

SIPDIS
efforts to reach a negotiated solution to Sri Lanka's 20-year
civil war. The Deputy Secretary noted that his visit to Sri
Lanka, coming less than a month after the PM's meeting with
President Bush in Washington, should serve as a visible
manifestation of the strength of US support for the
still-fledgling peace process. The Deputy Secretary, who had
visited the war-torn Jaffna peninsula earlier in the day,
told the PM that while the US could not provide the answer
for Sri Lanka's problems, and could not serve as an "honest
broker" between the GSL and the terrorist LTTE, the US could
help Sri Lanka realize its tremendous potential. He urged the
PM to continue to make efforts to get along with President
Kumaratunga to ensure that the peace process did not break
down because of discord within the GSL. In response to the
PM's urging, the Deputy Secretary promised to raise with the
Japanese the possibility of a more energetic "friends of Sri
Lanka" aid donor group that would help Sri Lanka raise the
estimated $500 million it will need over the next five years
to address the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and
restoration of the war-impacted northern and eastern regions
of the island. The PM provided a relatively upbeat assessment
of Sri Lanka's economy in the coming year; the Deputy
Secretary noted that economic growth would enable Sri Lanka

SIPDIS
to raise internally some of the money it needs to rebuild the
nation. The PM expressed great satisfaction with his visit to
Washington last month, saying the meeting with President Bush

had helped shore up support for the peace process among the
majority Sinhalese, many of whom remain skeptical about the
possibility of peace with the Tamil LTTE. He expressed
appreciation for the positive role played by the United
States in Sri Lanka, and hoped for ever closer relations
between the two countries. END SUMMARY


2. (U) Deputy Secretary of State Armitage made an August 22
call on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the PM's
official residence. In the cordial thirty-minute meeting,
the Prime Minister had with him Minister for Economic Reform
Milinda Moragoda (Amcit),MFA Foreign Secretary Nihal
Rodrigo, and the PM's Secretary Bradman Weerakoon.
Accompanying the Deputy Secretary were the Ambassador, NSC
Senior Director for Asian Affairs James Moriarity, SA PDAS
Michele Sison, Special Assistant Kara Bue, and Colombo DCM
(notetaker).


3. (C) The Deputy Secretary opened the conversation by
discussing his trip earlier in the day to war-torn Jaffna
city and peninsula (septel). He described the devastation he
had seen and related some of the conversations he had with
local residents. He noted the irony that some of the
interlocutors criticized the GSL on human rights grounds, but
apparently had no fear of doing so in the presence of heavily
armed Sri Lanka troops and senior GSL officials, including
Minister Moragoda. He said, however, all of the persons with
whom he spoke in Jaffna gave the PM high marks for his
efforts to end the war, even if they had doubts that he could
succeed in convincing the Sinhalese majority to come to terms
with the Tamil minority. The PM recalled his own visit to
Jaffna in which SA A/S Rocca accompanied him, saying that he
had received a very warm welcome from the Tamils there, who
clearly want the 20-year war to end. He said that the human
rights situation has improved markedly but that the GSL still
had not provided the people of Jaffna with a tangible "peace
dividend" (as noted below, the Sri Lankans would return to
this topic.) He noted, for example, that landmines -- an
estimated two million mines -- remain a major threat to the
population in the north and inhibit the ability of people to
resume normal lives.


4. (C) The Deputy Secretary expressed great satisfaction with
the PM's visit to Washington last month and, especially, his
meeting with President Bush. He noted that the US
bureaucracy has moved very quickly in response to GSL
requests for assistance in the areas of intelligence,
security, trade, investment, and aid. He noted that his own
visit, coming less than a month after the PM's meeting with
President Bush, should serve as a strong manifestation of US
support for the PM's efforts to bring peace to Sri Lanka.
Over the coming months Sri Lanka will receive the visits of
US assessment teams to look at how the US can assist Sri
Lanka in the areas mentioned by the GSL as needing help. He
noted that the intelligence team (septel) and a team from the
Peace Corps are in the country. He also commented that the US
has a demining team in Sri Lanka which has removed a
considerable number of mines and UXO in the Jaffna peninsula
and continued to do so -- the Deputy Secretary had visited a
site near Jaffna where the team works. He stressed that the
US could not provide the answer for Sri Lanka's problems,
and could not serve as an "honest broker" between the GSL and
the terrorist LTTE (as some people wanted),but the US could
help Sri Lanka realize its tremendous potential.


5. (C) The Deputy Secretary asked the PM how the visit to
Washington had played in Sri Lanka. The PM laughed and said
"it helped me politically." He went on to explain that
certain sectors in the Sinhalese majority south have great
reservations about negotiating with the LTTE. They view with
great satisfaction the fact that the USG has the LTTE on its
list of FTOs. Hence, the PM noted, to have the US, known for
being anti-terrorist, support his peace efforts gives him
political coverage with the Sinhalese doubters.


6. (C) Moragoda interjected that for the peace process to
continue to receive support, or at least not encounter
serious opposition, the GSL needs to show a "peace dividend."
The PM hopes to launch an international effort to raise $500
million over the next five years for the rebuilding of the
war-affected areas. Moragoda noted that Japan continues to
be the biggest donor to Sri Lanka and said that the GSL needs
US help to convince the Japanese to lead an international
effort ("Friends of Sri Lanka") to raise the funds. Moragoda
commented that the donor group has not had a formal meeting
in some time, and thought one could prove helpful. He
remarked that the Indians have provided Sri Lanka some
credits and seemed willing to do more. He hoped the US could
galvanize donors to greater generosity. He also stressed that
an FTA with the US could serve as a key component in the
GSL's economic recovery strategy. The PM said that Sri Lanka
needed a great deal of technical expertise to modernize its
economy and governmental structure. Despite that and a
drought earlier this year which affected food production and
power generation, the GSL hoped to have economic growth of
about 3 percent this year as compared to a negative 1.3
percent last year. The PM said he hoped to get Sri Lanka
back to a growth rate of about 9 percent/year.


7. (C) The Deputy Secretary replied that the Bush
Administration had reversed the prior decision to close the
AID mission in Colombo, and sought to increase funding for
AID in Sri Lanka. He and the Ambassador also noted that the
Administration's "Millennium Challenge Account" could
potentially prove very beneficial to Sri Lanka, although no
decisions have yet been made. He promised to talk to the
Japanese during his forthcoming visit to Tokyo and said he
would relay their response to the GSL via the Ambassador. He
commented that if the Sri Lanka can get a growth rate of 3
percent, not to mention 9 percent, it could begin to provide
funds for rebuilding from its own sources. Deputy Secretary
Armitage and the Ambassador said that while an FTA might be a
ways off, the US and Sri Lanka can use the recently-signed
TIFA to provide the framework for negotiating a mutually
satisfactory trade arrangement.


8. (C) Turning to the subject of India, the Deputy Secretary
said that the Indians have expressed great interest in what
"the US is doing in Sri Lanka" and seemed to pay considerable
attention to his visit. PDAS Sison noted that the Indian
Embassy in Washington had been very interested in the PM's
meeting with President Bush. Moragoda said the Indians remain
a bit "worried" by the greater US profile in Sri Lanka but
that this seems to be dissipating. In response to the Deputy
Secretary's question, the Foreign Secretary provided an

SIPDIS
upbeat account of the recent SAARC meeting he attended. He
said Indian and Pakistani representatives had a brief but
cordial encounter.


9. (C) Deputy Secretary Armitage asked about the PM's
relations with President Kumaratunga. He stated that
"cohabitation" is the only real option if the peace process
is going to work, and the peace process "is the only game in
town." The PM agreed, but related his difficulties with the
President who seems lukewarm about the peace process. He
described a letter he had just received from her highly
critical of the GSL and essentially accusing it of kowtowing
to the LTTE. The PM had decided not to reply to the
President's letter. The PM said he hoped to have a private
meeting with the President upon her return from the UK next
week.

COMMENT


10. (C) The Deputy Secretary's visit was clearly a big hit
with the GSL -- he is the most senior USG representative to
visit the country in nearly 20 years. The PM is obviously
still basking in the glory of his recent visit to the US and
in the notably increased official American attention to Sri
Lanka's efforts to end 20 years of war and fifty years of
socialist economics. The GSL has repeatedly told us that it
wants even greater US involvement in Sri Lanka, and this
attitude came through clearly throughout the Deputy
Secretary's visit.

SIPDIS


11. (C) The PM clearly worries about the unpredictable
President Kumaratunga, who although suffering some
significant political reverses in the past few months remains
a formidable political force in the Sinhalese south. He also
worries about the state of Sri Lanka's economy and the need
to show a "peace dividend." The Deputy Secretary's visit has
provided the GSL a needed expression of international support
as it plans to enter into formal dialogue with the LTTE next
month in Thailand and should help firm up the GSL's resolve
to take on the long and difficult task of bringing decades of
communal warfare and terrorism to an end.

Wills