SRI LANKA WILL "CONSIDER US DEMARCHE" ON G-4

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001245 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL OTRA OVIP KSEP CE UNGA SUBJECT: SRI LANKA WILL "CONSIDER US DEMARCHE" ON G-4 FRAMEWORK RESOLUTION REF: A. STATE 132429 ¶B. STATE 126870 ¶C. COLOMBO 001198 ¶1. (SBU) Sumedha Ekanayake, the Foreign Ministry's Assistant Director of UN and Multilateral Affairs, told poloff in a July 14 phone conversation that the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) will vote in favor of the G-4 Framework Resolution at the UN General Assembly. However, the GSL will not co-sponsor the resolution. ¶2. (SBU) The Ambassador spoke with Foreign Secretary Palihakkara July 18 to see if there was any chance of Sri Lanka's converting its "no" vote to an abstention. Palihakkara said he had received a similar demarche that morning from the "Coffee Club" group. He said further that he understood a meeting between the G-4 Foreign Ministers and Africa Group to try to harmonize their positions had an "ambiguous" outcome. Without African support, he noted, the G-4 Resolution cannot pass. Palihakkara concluded that the GSL would "consider the US demarche" in formulating its final position. ¶3. (SBU) Comment. Eager to please Japan and India, Sri Lanka is, we believe, most likely to support the resolution, but an abstention is still a possibility. LUNSTEAD