British shadow foreign secretary's meeting

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001583 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, S/CT, EUR/UBI NSC FOR E. MILLARD E.O. 12958: DECL: 09-10-13 TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV CE UK LTTE SUBJECT: British shadow foreign secretary's meeting with the Tamil Tigers Refs: Colombo 1565, and previous (U) Classified by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead. Reasons 1.5 (b, d). ¶1. (C) In a September 5 meeting with the Ambassador, British High Commissioner Stephen Evans provided a readout of a recent meeting between Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) representatives. Evans said Ancram, joined by Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative Party official, had met with S.P. Thamilchelvam, the LTTE's political chief, and Karuna, the group's eastern military commander, on September 4 at a hotel near Colombo's international airport. The venue was convenient for the LTTE officials, who had just arrived back from visits to France and Switzerland, and were transiting back to the LTTE-controlled Vanni region in northern Sri Lanka. ¶2. (C) Reviewing the substance of the meeting, Evans, who was also present, stated that Thamilchelvam had remarked that the Tigers' recent in-house meeting in Paris had gone well (see Reftels). The Tigers had appreciated the advice given by the collection of (pro- LTTE Tamil) legal experts who were in Paris for the discussions. Thamilchelvam confirmed that those present in Paris had developed draft counter-proposals to the GSL's north/east interim administration proposal made in July. After review by the LTTE leadership in the Vanni, Thamichelvam related that the LTTE would provide a consolidated response to the government via the Norwegian facilitators within the next four weeks. ¶3. (C) Evans said Thamilchelvam was a bit vague regarding the nature of the counter-proposals themselves. He told Ancram, however, that the Tigers would make clear to the GSL that it wanted an "interim administration with teeth." The LTTE also wanted the interim administration to be "transparent and accountable." Thamilchelvam went on to indicate that the counter-proposals would be based at least in part on federalist models of government existing elsewhere, such as in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: Meeting Ancram, one of the highest level western politicians the group has ever met, was certainly quite a coup for the Tigers and pro-LTTE press outlets highlighted the meeting. Commenting on Thamilchelvam's remarks, Evans told the Ambassador that the Tigers had taken care to place a spotlight on their study of other countries' federalist models. He predicted that the LTTE's counter-proposals might represent a challenge for the GSL because the group might be planning to point to other models of government, asking why Sri Lanka should maintain its unitary system and not establish a looser federal construct. In light of Thamilchelvam's comments, Evans went on to predict that the LTTE's counter-proposals would be "outside of Sri Lanka's current constitution." END COMMENT. ¶5. (U) Minimize considered. LUNSTEAD