Prime Minister address on status of peace

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000322

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2-24-13
TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV PHUM CE LTTE
SUBJECT: Prime Minister address on status of peace
process, most observers see statement as positive

Refs: Colombo 274 and previous

(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of
Mission. Reasons 1.5 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
used the February 22 one year anniversary of the formal
ceasefire to comment on the status of the peace process
and his vision of what is to come. Most observers
viewed his speech with appreciation. The only
detractors were those who were to be expected. Of
particular interest, however, is how little note the Sri
Lankan population seems to have taken of the speech.
End Summary.

The Speech
==========


2. (U) On February 22 Sri Lanka celebrated one year of
an official ceasefire between the government and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). (Note: The
GSL and LTTE announced unilateral ceasefires fourteen
months ago on December 24, 2001.) Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe used the occasion to address the nation
on the status of the peace process and to outline where
he sees the process going. He stressed that the nation
is behind the peace process and that those opposed are
in the minority. He also commented on President
Kumaratunga's having initiated many of the policies
permitting the government to go the route of a
negotiated settlement.


3. (U) He acknowledged that the LTTE had violated the
terms of the ceasefire agreement, but that some parts of
society were exaggerating the scope of the violations.
He also stressed that the international community is
playing a role in applying pressure on the LTTE to make
sure that it complies with international standards human
rights and democratic standards. He argued that in the
end the LTTE will be a political party that must respond
to its people, but to get there they have to be taken
into the mainstream. He further argued that there would
be difficulties, and that he would welcome any
recommendations from the opposition on how to overcome
them.

Reactions
=========


4. (C) Within the Tamil community the response to the
speech was generally positive, but the focus remained on
the alleged failures of the government to help return
the north and east to a status of normalcy. When asked
about Wickremesinghe's speech, Gajendrakumar
Ponnambalam, a Tamil National Alliance MP, quickly
changed the topic to the government's security zones in
Jaffna. He then recited the oft-repeated argument that
the military occupation of vast tracks of land is
preventing the resettlement of IDP's (see Refs).


5. (C) Fulfilling expectations, Waruna Rajapakse, a
provincial councilor for the Janantha Vimukthi Peramuna
(JVP) criticized the speech as a "waste of time." He
went on to accuse the government of selling out the
nation to the LTTE.


6. (C) The views of Jehan Perera, the director of the
National Peace Council, a well-regarded local think
tank, were more in line with the overall response to the
Prime Minister's speech. He commented that
Wickremesinghe gave a "very good overview" and was "very
impressive." Perera also stressed that it was a
positive that the PM was taking the people "into his
confidence."

Comment
=======


7. (C) Despite continued tensions in the north and east,
as detailed in Reftels, and promises by the JVP to stage
massive protests against the ongoing peace process one
of the more noteworthy aspects of the Prime Minister's
speech was how little note it received. While the LTTE
was staging peace related protests in the north and east
over the weekend, the population in the south, both
Tamil and Sinhalese, appear to have adopted a
complacency towards the current peace process, at least
for now. End Comment.

WILLS