Facilitators slated to meet Sri Lankan PM in

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
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