TIGER RHETORIC CONTINUES TO INCREASE AFTER COLOMBO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001181

SIPDIS

NOFORN

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS; NSC FOR E.MILLARD
PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2014
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL PHUM CE LTTE
SUBJECT: TIGER RHETORIC CONTINUES TO INCREASE AFTER COLOMBO
SUICIDE BOMBING

REF: COLOMBO 1158 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead. Reason 1.5 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: After the July 7 suicide bombing of a
police station in downtown Colombo, Tiger rhetoric is heating
up. The uptick in the group's rhetoric is accompanied by an
increasingly fearful climate in the east, where the Tigers
have been flexing their muscles. Assassinations and child
recruitment continue. Meanwhile, Karuna reiterated his
intention to form a political party and denied responsibility
for violence in the east. While the Tigers are turning up
the heat, the GSL seems trying to cool down the rhetoric --
but faces problems within its own ranks. END SUMMARY.

LTTE RHETORIC HEATS UP
--------------


2. (U) After the July 7 suicide bombing of a police station
in downtown Colombo, Tiger rhetoric is heating up. Although
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) issued a rare
denial of the bombing on July 8 via pro-Tiger website
TamilNet, other recent Tiger statements from Kilinochchi and
the east take a harder line. LTTE Political Leader S.P.
Thamilchelvan, in a July 10 interview with BBC, noted that
the GSL was responsible for the violence in the east and that
the peace process was at its lowest point. At lower levels
of the organization, the rhetoric is stronger still. Various
media reports quoted LTTE Batticaloa Political Leader E.
Kousalyan's comments, "...the Sri Lankan state is not
interested at all in taking forward the peace process but is
only bent on using the talks and the ceasefire to wage a
terrorist war on us in the baseless hope of weakening us
militarily and politically. We are ready to face the war
that the Sri Lankan state has decided to thrust on us."

CLIMATE OF FEAR INCREASES IN THE EAST
--------------


3. (C) The uptick in Tiger rhetoric is accompanied by an
increasingly fearful climate in the east, where the Tigers
have been flexing their muscles. On July 15, at a prison in
Batticaloa, a suspected LTTE cadre shot dead another LTTE
cadre who was one of Karuna's senior deputies. The alleged
shooter surrendered to police in the presence of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Sri Lanka
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) representatives. Earlier on July
10, media reports noted that the Tigers executed two
pro-Karuna cadre in Senkaladi, near Batticaloa. The cadre,
who an LTTE court found guilty for sedition, had been bound
and shot in the head and were dumped by the side of the road
in adjoining government-controlled territory, as one
interlocutor put it, "to remind people that anyone who
refuses to be re-recruited into the LTTE is better off dead."
In the meantime, the Tigers continue to forcibly recruit
children. In a conversation with poloff, UNICEF Chief of
Child Protection Victor Nyland noted that the Tigers'
accelerated underage recruitment and re-recruitment, which
had shifted to the north, has in recent weeks returned to the
east. Moreover, the Tigers are using more threats and
violence. Families in the east who resist giving up their
children have been beaten with wooden sticks and have had
their houses set on fire. In a July 7 statement, Amnesty
International condemned these activities and called on the
Tigers to "stop these violent and intimidating tactics
immediately."

KARUNA SPEAKS
--------------


4. (C/NF) Meanwhile, the drama with breakaway Tiger rebel
Karuna continues. In a July 11 interview with BBC Tamil
Radio Service Tamil Osai, he reiterated his intention to form
a political party and denied responsibility for violence in
the east. Karuna claimed to be back in Batticaloa, although
there is no way to confirm his location. Copious press
reports have chronicled how Douglas Devananda, Minister of
Agricultural Marketing Development, Hindu Affairs, and Tamil
Language Schools and Vocational Training (North),and leader
of the anti-LTTE Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and
the intended target of the July 7 suicide bombing, is helping
Karuna to form a political party. One theory is that Karuna
is forming a political party because he lacks other options.
In a July 13 conversation with poloff, Neil Wright, Head of
UNHCR, noted that Karuna and nine of his lieutenants had
approached the Batticaloa UNHCR office to discuss asylum, but
were informed that Article 1F of the Geneva Convention
(denying asylum because of involvement with crimes against
peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity or crimes against
the purposes and principles of the UN) prevented them from
seeking asylum under international law. Wright also noted
that Karuna and his people had attempted to negotiate a
bi-lateral political asylum solution with several nations,
but were also unsuccessful. Karuna, who it seems will have
difficulty leaving Sri Lanka, is probably trying to re-cast
himself politically -- a la former paramilitary leader
turned politico Douglas Devananda.

BRIGHT SPOTS?
--------------


5. (C) While the Tigers are increasing the heat, the GSL
seems ready to cool down the rhetoric. The President's
post-Provincial Council election statement (July 12) noted
that she considers the election outcome -- her party won all
districts being contested -- a clear endorsement of her
government's policies, including its peace policy of
maintaining the Ceasefire Agreement and resuming peace
negotiations with the LTTE. The caveat that those
negotiations would be geared toward the establishment of an
interim authority and a lasting solution to the conflict
"within a united and democratic Sri Lanka" were possibly
meant to soothe the Tigers, who demand that their Interim
Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) be at the top of the agenda
when peace talks resume. The President also publicly offered
to establish a National Peace Council for all parties in the
south to discuss and contribute to the peace process.
Meanwhile, some contact between the GSL and LTTE is
happening, albeit at a much lower level. While
representatives from the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE refused
to meet in the east, they did meet in Vavuniya on Monday for
what a SLMM interlocutor characterized as a regular meeting.
Pro-LTTE website TamilNet offered more color, and called it
an attempt "to bring the violence and murders in Vavuniya
district under control." The Vavuniya Government Agent, who
attended part of the meeting, said it was cordial.


6. (C) In a separate development, Tiger Political Leader
S.P. Thamilchelvan opened the LTTE Human Rights Office in
Kilinochchi last week. According to press reports,
Thamilchelvan noted that LTTE supremo Prabhakaran respected
human rights more than other leaders. A committee to take
action against human rights violations in the north and east
was also formed, complete with a TNA MP. Human rights
interlocutors in Jaffna who ventured to Kilinochchi to speak
with the head of the committee noted that the office would
investigate violations of human rights, including those
perpetrated by the LTTE, in the north and east. (Comment:
How do you say "chutzpah" in Tamil?)


7. (C) Despite the President's efforts to move forward with
the peace process, she has problems within her own ranks.
Her major alliance partner, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
(JVP),continues its public agitation against the process.
The JVP released a July 10 statement hitting the Tigers hard
for the July 7 suicide bombing. At the same time, the group
began an island-wide poster campaign denouncing the Tigers'
commitment to peace. In a July 14 conversation with poloffs,
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that his party would
consider peace talks with the LTTE, but only on matters of a
"final solution," dismissing the idea of discussions on an
interim administration.

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

8. (C) The Tigers continue their quest to conquer the east,
with more and more violent results. International pressure
to stop this violence is coming from many directions:
Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar journeyed to Kilinochchi
to speak with the Tigers on July 13, the UN is planning a
private sit-down with Thamilchelvan to press him to end the
pattern of violence in the east, SLMM efforts are ongoing to
keep the Tigers and the SLA talking, the EU and Canada, in
addition to Mission, issued press statements condemning the
violence. The opening of an LTTE Human Rights Office in
Kilinochchi, as hypocritical as that is, could be a signal
that the Tigers feel a need to respond, at least
symbolically, to the concerns of the international community.
Now that the Provincial Council elections are settled -- and
the President's party victorious -- the GSL may feel
empowered to make more positive (and public) noises about the
peace process and work to calm the situation in the east.
However, the President still has to deal with her own
minority situation and the continuing problem of the JVP's
dissent from her direction on peace. Septel will describe
Ambassador's discussion with Brattskar and Peace Secretariat
Head Dhanapala. END COMMENT.
LUNSTEAD