OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 089 (07/07/04)

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001124 SIPDIS OFFICIAL INFORMAL FOR SA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2014 TAGS: AMGT CE MV SUBJECT: OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 089 (07/07/04) Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead for reasons 1.5 d and g. Contents: Suicide Bombing Personnel Public Security Secretary Maldives Democracy Assistance Guantanamo Detainee Colombo Plan SUICIDE BOMBING -------------- ¶1. (C) You will see several cables about this. We see it as a clear warning to the GLS from the LTTE to rein in the Karuna forces in the East or else face retaliation. The situation for Americans is the familiar one: it was not directed at us and the risk is in being in the wrong place at the wrong time. PERSONNEL -------------- ¶2. (U) We have truly entered the summer transfer/R and R season, with a suddenly depleted staff. Joe Novak is gone, Jim Entwistle, Rich Girven and Teresa Manlowe on R and R, with others soon to follow. Consular will have just one officer for most of the (busy) summer. We are prioritizing issues now as they come up. ¶3. (U) Speaking of personnel shortages, we assume there is still no replacement for Jim Waller, who we believe is in his last--or is it next-to-last--week. Is that correct and, if so, how will our issues be handled over the summer and beyond. PUBLIC SECURITY SECRETARY -------------- ¶4. (U) We understand that Mr. Ranaviraja, Secretary in the Ministry of Public Security, and also head of the Central Environment Agency, is now or will shortly be in DC beginning his program arranged by the Sri Lankan Embassy. Ranaviraja is a friendly and important contact. Can you tell us whom he is meeting? MALDIVES DEMOCRACY -------------- ¶5. (U) Ambassador received an e-mail this week from the Maldives Attorney General Hassan Saeed, a young and eager reformer. Saeed asked if we could get NDI to help in Maldives democratization process. We will be sending in something on this front channel. It seems that AID program money here cannot be spent on Maldives. We need to look for some pot of money that could help us make a big difference there. GUANTANAMO DETAINEE -------------- ¶6. (C) And speaking of Maldives, we notice some contradictions between the material prepared by DOD for the Secretary on the Maldivian detainee and earlier assessments, SIPDIS specifically on the degree of his cooperation and what threat he might pose. We will send a front channel on this shortly. Given the Secretary's visit, we need to find a way to move forward on this. COLOMBO PLAN -------------- ¶7. (C) We sent in our responses to IO's latest by email from Andrea Tomaszewicz on June 21. The next Colombo Plan meeting is July 21. It would be good to have something useful to say by then. We are struck in IO's memo by the fact that INL does not seem to understand the situation. If there is no effective way to get people to pay their dues (and a suspension of voting rights will nto be effective),then INL will not be able to run any programs, because the Secretariat will not have funds to provide the administrative support. We would suggest working on INL to get them on our side. LUNSTEAD