Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03COLOMBO1419
2003-08-13 10:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

SFRC Staffer Blank's visit to Sri Lanka

Tags:  PREL PGOV PTER PREF CE LTTE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

131026Z Aug 03
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001419 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA, H(NOTTINGHAM)
NSC FOR E. MILLARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08-13-13
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PREF CE LTTE
SUBJECT: SFRC Staffer Blank's visit to Sri Lanka

Refs: Colombo 1399, and previous

(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Charge'
d'Affaires. Reasons 1.5 (b, d).

SUMMARY
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001419

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA, H(NOTTINGHAM)
NSC FOR E. MILLARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08-13-13
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PREF CE LTTE
SUBJECT: SFRC Staffer Blank's visit to Sri Lanka

Refs: Colombo 1399, and previous

(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Charge'
d'Affaires. Reasons 1.5 (b, d).

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (C) During his recent visit, SFRC staffer Dr. Jonah
Blank traveled throughout Sri Lanka, with stops in
Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, and Trincomalee. In meetings
with Blank, GSL officials expressed general optimism
about the peace process. Contacts in the south,
however, expressed concern about Tiger activities.
Those from the war-torn north/east noted the magnitude
of the rehabilitation challenge and underscored the need
for ethnic reconciliation. Overall, while everyone
admitted that the situation was fragile, there was a
strong feeling that Sri Lanka had come a long way from
the dark days of the war and must not reverse course.
END SUMMARY.

--------------
A Wide-ranging Visit
--------------


2. (SBU) Dr. Jonah Blank, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee senior policy advisor on South Asia
(Minority),visited Sri Lanka August 3-10 to obtain an
on-the-ground understanding of island-wide views on the
peace process. During his comprehensive trip, Dr. Blank
and emboffs held meetings in Colombo, and visited Galle
in the south, Jaffna in the north, and Trincomalee in
the east.

--------------
Colombo: Optimism re the Peace Process
--------------


3. (C) During the Colombo set of meetings, Sri Lankan
government officials were generally optimistic about the
peace process with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) organization. Key peace process figures in the
GSL, such as Ministers G.L. Peiris and Milinda Moragoda,
indicated that the government's recent interim
administration proposal for the north/east was the first
step in getting the LTTE to resume talks. (Note: The
LTTE pulled out of the talks in April 2003.) Moragoda
added that the interim administration concept was merely
a means to an end, not the end itself. Peiris told
Blank there was the greatest hope now for progress along

the peace track. He tempered his comments, however, by
reflecting on what he characterized as the Tigers'
"insecurity," given the group's lack of political
experience. A little bit less optimistic than the GSL
officials, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse expressed
concern over recent Tiger behavior, and hoped for closer
peace process consultation between Prime Minister
Wickremesinghe and President Kumaratunga.


4. (C) Interlocutors in Colombo also spoke of the
government's need to manage more effectively public
expectations regarding the peace process and
rehabilitation activities. Norwegian Ambassador Hans
Brattskar, representing his country's facilitation
effort, stated that negotiating through the difficult
issues dividing the GSL and the Tigers would take time.
The public needed to understand that it all could not
happen with a flick of a switch. Moragoda admitted that
redevelopment and economic measures were difficult to
manage and hoped that both parties -- the government and
the LTTE -- would show tangible gains via an active
rehabilitation and reconstruction program. Otherwise,
he continued, public frustration over lack of economic
and material progress could increase to the detriment of
the peace track.

--------------
Galle: Worries about the LTTE
--------------


5. (C) During meetings in the southern, Sinhalese-
majority city of Galle, government officials as well as
university interlocutors expressed some concerns about
the direction of the peace process. Citing deep
distrust of the LTTE, Governor of the Western Province
(where Colombo is located) Kingsley Wickramamaratne, a
nominee of President Kumaratunga, expressed the need for
enhanced U.S. and Indian involvement in the peace
process to counter a pattern of aggressive LTTE
activities. In a meeting with officials of Ruhuna
University, professors emphasized the moderating
influence the U.S. had played on the LTTE since the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Dean of Medicine
Susurith Mendis remarked that since the LTTE were now
negotiating from a position of strength in that it was
already exerting a high degree of influence in the
north/east, it would be more difficult to convince the
Tigers to return to negotiations. Despite their worries
about the LTTE, all interlocutors urged a return to
negotiations, while emphasizing the need for closer
dialogue between the prime minister and the president.


6. (C) While noting that the north/east had suffered
devastating losses in terms of infrastructure, contacts
also underscored the need for rehabilitation island-
wide. Touching on the popular notion in the south that
all assistance was being funneled to the north/east,
local officials noted high unemployment rates in the
Galle District and a general need for revitalization in
the south.

--------------
Jaffna: Facing the Rehabilitation Challenge
--------------


7. (C) In the one-day visit to Jaffna, the U.S. team
observed a bustling downtown marketplace and indications
of road repair around the war-torn Peninsula. People
seemed most concerned with restoring their daily lives,
despite the looming specter of the Tamil Tigers, who
were exercising a significant "shadow" influence on the
situation in Jaffna.


8. (C) Rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Jaffna
area seemed to be the first item on interlocutor's
minds. While declining to comment on the peace process
(perhaps because he was scared of LTTE reprisals),C.
Pathmanathan, the Government Agent (GA) for Jaffna, for
example, instead focused optimistically on the presence
of the international community's aid projects. NGO
representatives and the GA spoke about the need to
rebuild housing and restore basic services, but placed a
spotlight on the difficulties of the situation. The GA
lamented that thousands of Jaffna residents had fled the
district in the last two decades, saying that only a
minimal community social structure remained today. This
factor had decimated the technical capacity of the
area's residents. International aid workers concurred
that the community lacked the necessary labor and trade
skills to help itself, and thus was reliant on outside
assistance. NGO contacts also mentioned the practical
challenges faced by many Internally Displaced Person
(IDP) returnees prevented from regaining lost
properties, as their land was within GSL security zones,
which covered roughly 20 percent of the land in the
district.


9. (C) In a rare opportunity for U.S. officials, the
team drove through the LTTE-controlled Vanni region
during its drive from Jaffna to the eastern town of
Trincomalee. Traveling the north/south "A9" road, there
were some signs of development in the Vanni as well.
Along the "A9," yellow string edged the roadside where
Humanitarian Demining Unit (HDU) deminers had begun
clearing land. (Note: HDU is the demining arm of the
pro-LTTE Tamil Rehabilitation Organization.) In places
less jeopardized by landmines, repaving of the A9 road
was underway. In the LTTE administrative center of
Kilinochchi, a brand new building stood next to placards
for `proposed' school and hospital building sites. The
team also spotted several LTTE cadre, including one
apparently from the infamous Black Tiger suicide squad,
strolling in Kilinochchi along with white-uniformed
school children and local residents going about their
morning business.

--------------
Trincomalee: A Mix of Views
--------------


10. (C) In Trincomalee, the dividends of peace were
readily apparent. During the U.S. team's one-day stay,
the two large local hotels were fully booked as visiting
Sri Lankans and foreigners took advantage of
Trincomalee's beaches. The town itself also seemed to
be booming, with many new stores opened up and new
building sites scattered around. Not all was fun and
sun along Trincomalee's marketplace and fish stalls,
however, as the delegation observed radical Janantha
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) posters criticizing the
government's peace process efforts.


11. (C) A meeting at the local Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission (SLMM) office revealed the extent of
reconciliation challenges that lay ahead in the
ethnically-mixed Trincomalee area: in addition to
mediating between the LTTE and GSL, fishermen and other
groups also approached the SLMM to report problems they
were having with both sides. There were many tensions
between the Tamil and Muslim communities over land and
LTTE harassment. Re the LTTE-GSL military relationship,
however, the SLMM stated that confrontations seemed to
be decreasing over time and many local military
officials were intent on strengthening communication
lines -- via the SLMM -- with the Tigers. While NGO
interlocutors highlighted their community rebuilding
activities, they noted that redevelopment progress
occurred in the shadow of a strong -- and sometimes
threatening -- LTTE presence. (Note: In Trincomalee,
the team also discussed the issue of the LTTE's
continuing refusal to vacate a camp in the district in
spite of the SLMM's repeated requests -- see Reftels.)

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


12. (C) Dr. Blank's visit was wide-ranging in its scope
and provided an excellent snapshot of the situation in
Sri Lanka roughly 18 months after the advent of the
peace process. Despite the many distinct strands in the
current situation, there was an overall feeling that Sri
Lanka had come a long way from the dark days of the war
and must not reverse course. Given the pattern of
aggressive LTTE activities, however, contacts expressed
no certainty whether the current situation was
permanent, or whether it was merely an interregnum in a
longer war. END COMMENT.


13. (U) Dr. Blank departed Colombo before he could
clear this cable.


14. (U) Minimize considered.

ENTWISTLE