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