OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 043 (03/18/04)

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000480

SIPDIS

OFFICIAL INFORMAL

FOR SA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/14
TAGS: AMGT CE MV LTTE
SUBJECT: OFFICIAL INFORMAL NUMBER 043 (03/18/04)

Classified by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead for reasons
1.5 (b) and (d).

CONTENTS: LATEST RE KARUNA SITUATION
REPORTED KILLING IN EAST
MRS. MCCAIN COMES AND GOES
CODEL DREIER

LATEST RE KARUNA SITUATION
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1. (C) FYI. In a long interview with TamilNet posted
on March 17, London-based LTTE spokesman Balasingham has
made his first public comments on the Karuna situation.
Balasingham said the Tiger split between the north and
east was not a major politico-military crisis and that
the LTTE would deal with it soon. (The sheer length of
the interview, however, would tend to indicate that it
is a major issue for Balasingham and the LTTE!!) In the
meantime, the LTTE radio station, "Voice of the Tigers,"
has announced that the LTTE leadership in the Vanni has
formally retracted its previous offer of amnesty to
Karuna if he returned to the fold.

REPORTED KILLING IN EAST
--------------


2. (C) FYI. According to press reports, a worker with
the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) was killed in the
Eastern District of Ampara on March 16. While some news
reports have portrayed the man's death as politically
related, we have heard that the man may have died of
natural causes. If it is a politically-related killing,
it would be the third death associated with the election
campaign. (POL)

MRS. MCCAIN'S VISIT
--------------


3. (U) Cindy McCain, wife of Senator John McCain, was
in Sri Lanka March 15-17 as a guest of the HALO Trust
(demining people). Her visit was completely
unpublicized and she requested no official assistance.
She spent two of her three days here in Jaffna visiting
demining sites. Ambassador had invited her to the
residence upon her return from Jaffna. Unfortunately her
return was delayed and she did not have time to come by
before leaving for the airport and her return flight.
She did mention that her husband hoped to visit here at
some time.

CODEL DREIER
--------------


4. (U) We sent in our country clearance cable for Codel
Dreier today. We of course welcome the Codel but tried
to point out in the cable that it will be extremely
difficult to program anything substantive in the limited
Saturday/Sunday that the Codel will be here, given that
the preceding Friday and the following Monday/Tuesday
are all national holidays and almost all Sri Lankans
will be out of Colombo. We passed this word to the
Codel before and were told not to worry, that they were
"flexible." In our cable, we have tried to ask
diplomatically if the Codel would rather just have a day
of beach/sightseeing. If so, we would be happy to
arrange that for them -- they just have to let us know.
If someone there can phone someone on the Codel and (1)
make sure they understand what the situation will be
here and (2) try to get a more precise vision of what
they really want to do, that would be a great help to
us.

LUNSTEAD