PRESIDENT KUMARATUNGA PROCLAIMS SHE IS PRO-PEACE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000542

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL
NSC FOR E. MILLARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/31/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR PARM LTTE
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KUMARATUNGA PROCLAIMS SHE IS PRO-PEACE,
PRO-FEDERALISM, PRO-ISH-JVP AND ANTI-UNP

Classified By: Ambassador E. Ashley Wills. Reasons 1.5, B, D.


1. (C) SUMMARY: President Kumaratunga convoked the
diplomatic corps on short notice Monday, March 31, to discuss
current events. Iraq did not come up. She assured us all
that she is for peace and a federal solution and is also
inclining toward an alliance with the hard left JVP. She
also proclaimed her support for the Tokyo Donors Conference.
And as usual, she trashed the PM and his party. Afterward,
she told me she would receive me privately later this week.
END SUMMARY.


2. (C) President Kumaratunga returned from abroad on
Friday, March 28, and convoked all Ambassadors to her
official residence March 31. She arrived half an hour late
and announced she had nothing "dramatic" to say but wanted us
to have the benefit of her views on current affairs. In the
event, she was correct about the lack of drama. In her
45-minute presentation, she covered three subjects:
cohabitation, the economy and peace. The q's and a's were
more interesting.


3. (C) On cohabitation, the President, as is her custom,
trashed the PM and his party. Although she was willing to
make it work and at all times had acted "with extreme
restraint and only out of concern for the people", the PM and
his Cabinet colleagues had behaved "abominably". She accused
Ranil of ordering the murder of "60 PA cadre", the torching
of "over 3,000" PA cadres' private homes and the "routine"
mistreatment of her. Despite this, she remained willing to
try to make it work but didn't think it would. On the
economy, she characterized the government's policies as
"incoherent" and "unsuccessful".


4. (C) She dwelled a bit on peace. She told us her views
had not changed and that she remained committed to a
peaceful, negotiated outcome. But any settlement must pay
due regard to democratic principles and human rights, she
asserted, and must be arrived at transparently. "I am more
committed to peace than anyone in this country," she
proclaimed, but she has "no clue" what the government's plan
is. She expressed her hope that someday the government would
"bring her, and the people of the country" into its
confidence. She added a coda to her rif on peace: she hoped
we had noticed that after "all six rounds" of the talks
between the GSL and the Tigers, Anton Balasingham had either
"threatened or vilified the head of the Sri Lankan state."
This, the head of the Sri Lankan state declared, was "rude
and intolerable" and might well be "at the behest of the UNP."


5. (C) The q's and a's following her remarks were spicier.
The Egyptian Ambassador asked her if she intended to enter
into an alliance with the (hard left) JVP. CBK replied that
"the peace process will not be hampered by arrangements that
might be arrived at with the JVP, which has moved away from
its anti-negotiations line." She said her party and the JVP
"were still ironing out a few details" but gave us all the
impression the deal is nearly done. "If we can negotiate
with the undemocratic LTTE, why not with the JVP?", she asked
rhetorically. "The JVP has accepted that the economy will be
based on the free market . . .it has a strong belief in good
governance, democracy and equality . . ", the President
continued, "and is much more forthright and principled than
the UNP."


6. (C) The Swiss Ambassador asked for her views and those
of the JVP on federalism. She ducked the latter part of his
question but announced that she personally favored federalism
as the correct model for Sri Lanka. The Japanese Charge
asked her whether she supported the Tokyo Donors Conference
scheduled for June. "Any donors conference is good for Sri
Lanka," the President declared, but she hoped donors would
focus as well on the importance of human rights, pluralism
and democratic governance country wide. Finally, the
Pakistani HC asked for her assessment of whether the LTTE can
be transformed into a political organization. CBK replied
that we should consult political scientists and psychiatrists
to guess the future of the LTTE . . . but in her view the
majority of Tiger cadre wanted peace and democracy while the
leaders' opinions were completely unknown to her.


7. (C) Afterwards, over tea, she approached me and
apologized for missing our scheduled appointment last week.
She had stayed in London for a few extra days to attend to
family business. She said she would call me this week to fix
a new time for our private chat.


8. (C) COMMENT: I was a little concerned that the President
intended this meeting as a forum for her (extremely critical)
views regarding our resort to force against Saddam's regime,
but the subject did not come up. I was glad it didn't
because I was seated directly across from the Iraqi Charge,
with whom I exchanged baleful glares a couple of times, and
quite near the Swedish CDA, who assaulted me last night at a
dinner party over our "immoral" policy in West Asia (the
Swede revealed herself to be thoroughly anti-American, and I
revealed to her certain anti-Swedish tendencies on my part).
I would have hated seeing the two of them gloat while I was
dressed down by the President.


9. (C) CBK was as charming as ever, even as she delivered
yet another indictment of the PM and his government. Her
comments on the pending alliance with the JVP do not console
me or any other Western CoM (although perhaps the idiot
Swedish CDA is an exception). Bringing the JVP into the
official opposition will benefit its radical agenda and hurt
the chances of peace and economic growth, the US's top two
interests in Sri Lanka. END SUMMARY.

WILLS