OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 143 (10-16-02)

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001927 SIPDIS OFFICIAL INFORMAL DEPT FOR SA/INS FROM AMBASSADOR WILLS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10-16-12 TAGS: AMGT CE SUBJECT: OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 143 (10-16-02) Classified by DCM Lewis Amselem, Reasons 1.5 (b, d) CONTENTS: GSL RE IRAQ MM 2 D MALDIVES/ICC ARTICLE 98 BALASINGHAM/HELGESEN AGREMENT REQUEST JIM WALLER GSL RE IRAQ -------------- ¶1. (C) On October 15, Milinda Moragoda passed to the Ambassador an advance copy of a statement on Iraq that the GSL is planning to release in the near future. Begin text: -- Sri Lanka welcomes the decision of the government of Iraq to allow the weapons inspectors entry into the country without any condition. -- Sri Lanka hopes that the decision of Iraq will pave the way for the weapons inspectors to resume their work without further delay in that country towards the elimination of weapons of mass destruction. -- Sri Lanka has long argued that Iraq should fully comply with all Security Council Resolutions and respect its international commitments to avoid further escalation of tension in the region. End text. MORAGODA'S MEETING WITH D -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Moragoda is eager to know when he will have his meeting with the Deputy Secretary. He has been invited to Tokyo by the Japanese to discuss donor issues; his travel to Japan is contingent on when he sees D. He would appreciate an answer asap. MALDIVES/ICC ARTICLE 98 -------------- ¶3. (C) You would have seen our front-channel yesterday reporting the latest on where the GSL stands on signing the bilateral agreement (Colombo 1919). We are essentially just waiting for the GSL to name a time for the signing ceremony (unless some problem crops up). We will keep on it. By the way, we have not forgotten the Maldives. The Maldivians still have not gotten back to us re our recent dipnote on this issue (and our many previous entreaties). Our idea now is to wait until we have the GSL signature in the bag and then approach Male again. That might help enlist the GoRM, we think. BALASINGHAM/HELGESEN -------------- ¶4. (C) The Ops Center called today to confirm that Balasingham was now in Sri Lanka. In what was certainly one of those wacky coincidences that science alone cannot explain, we had actually reported on this issue yesterday in Colombo 1920!! The Ops Center promised to read that message. Further details re Balasingham's stopover at Colombo's airport: At a reception at the Residence last night for the visiting Defense Planning team, we were told by GSL officials that Balasingham and his wife arrived at Colombo's airport from London on a regular Sri Lankan Airlines flight. Both he and his wife, Adele, were in first class (how revolutionary can you get!!). They were then whisked in a GSL chopper to the Wanni. Balasingham apparently used a British passport for immigration purposes. Re Deputy Foreign Minister Helgesen, we understand from Milinda that he and his team are due to arrive in Colombo this coming weekend. AGREMENT REQUEST -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Just want to make sure that you saw Devinda Subasinghe's agrement request (Colombo 1918) and are processing it. We also faxed his official c.v. JIM WALLER -------------- ¶6. (U) When Jim was last seen, he was getting into a vehicle yesterday for a trip down south. He's due back in Colombo tonight. While suffering from loads of jetlag, Jim valiantly attended loads of the defense planning team's meetings earlier in the week. WILLS