OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 031 (02/27/04)

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000328 SIPDIS OFFICIAL INFORMAL FOR SA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/27/14 TAGS: AMGT CE MV SUBJECT: OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 031 (02/27/04) Classified by DCM James F. Entwistle for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). CONTENTS: MALDIVES ELECTION ASSISTANCE HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS MALDIVES -------------- ¶1. (C) The Ambassador and party report that the Maldives trip continues to go well, with a number of interesting meetings including with President Gayoom yesterday. Meanwhile, on the opposition front, you may see press reports that the GSL has ordered MDP organizer Mohammed Latheef (with whom we met earlier this week) to leave the country next week because he is on some sort of immigration "black list." We have confirmed this with Latheef and have also confirmed with UNHCR here that a number of MDP members (including Latheef) have registered with them as asylum seekers. We will fold all this into our Maldives omnibus cable next week but wanted you to be aware of these developments. We will also seek opportunities to ask our GSL contacts if expelling Maldivian democracy activists is really the public image they are seeking. Latheef is trying to get to Geneva for Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International meetings (presumably on the margins of the UNHRC) so there may well be publicity on the Maldives emanating from those meetings. (DCM) ELECTION ASSISTANCE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) AID here has received separate proposals for election assistance from NDI and IRI (AID had been encouraging a joint proposal). We see some overlap in the proposals and are cognizant of the logistics of both groups being in country at the same, very busy, time. AID is asking both groups to reconsider the idea of a joint proposal and, if not that, that overlapping areas be trimmed. We'll take a closer look at the proposals over the weekend and, once the Ambassador is back Monday, decide how to proceed so that the AID contracting process can get rolling quickly. (DCM) HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Are up on our website and being distributed around town. Immediate press reaction was to highlight our criticism of LTTE excesses. Today BBC has a piece out noting that the U.S. "praised" the GSL record. Text of article is quite accurate. We'll put out a media reaction next week. We've found a translation service here to put the Sri Lanka report in Tamil and Sinhalese. Still scratching our heads over how to get the Maldives report translated. Any guidance from DRL on how far down the language foodchain we have to go? (DCM) LUNSTEAD