SNAPSHOTS FROM TRINCOMALEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001830

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/2015
TAGS: PGOV PTER PHUM LTTE
SUBJECT: SNAPSHOTS FROM TRINCOMALEE


Classified By: POL PATRICIA MAHONEY. Reason: 1.4(B,D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: On October 19, the Ambassador traveled to the
eastern district of Trincomalee for a a series of meetings
with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA),Trincomalee Government Agent
(GA) K.G. Leelananda, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and
an NGO roundtable hosted by USAID. Interlocutors said the
security situation remains tense in Trincomalee with frequent
grenade attacks on military sentry posts, most resulting in
little or no damage. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) continues to recruit children. The Tamil population is
cooperative with the police but deeply distrustful of the SLA
and its sometimes heavy-handed tactics according to the SLMM.
Post-Tsunami reconstruction is painfully slow with only 29 of
the needed 6000 permanent housing units completed.
Interlocutors reported a comparative lack of interest in the
race among local voters. Authorities are expecting a 60%
voter turn out and are arranging to assist up to 20,000
Tamils in crossing from LTTE-controlled territory to
government controlled polling stations. END SUMMARY.

WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?
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2. (C) The Ambassador, accompanied by POLOFF, DATT and ARSO
visited Trincomalee district on October 19 and met with a
variety of military, government and NGO officials. The
district is almost evenly divided between the Muslim, Tamil
and Sinhala populations, with Tamils a 68 per cent majority
within the town limits. The SLA maintains a highly visible
security presence, with soldiers in full body armor. This
summer brought an increase in "grenade" attacks on security
checkpoints. Arthur Tveiten, head of the local SLMM office,
opined that a lack of casualties or even shrapnel damage
after the attacks points to improvised explosive devices
rather than proper military hand grenades. The commanding
general of the 22nd infantry division reported only one death
in over 30 grenade attacks over the last three months. The
SLA suspects that hastily trained irregulars, rather than
LTTE cadres, were conducting most of the attacks. Following
such an attack, the SLA will deploy to an area and conduct
house to house searches. The SLMM believes that these
searches often continue a week to ten days after the attack,
intimidating the Tamil population as a form of punishment.
According to the SLA, 78 cases of child recruitment were
reported in the last three months. INGO representatives
agreed that the LTTE continues to recruit or coerce minors
into their ranks. All parties agree that the majority of
incidents go unreported. NGOs involved in housing complained
that the commanding general of Trincomalee had created
burdensome paperwork and inspection procedures to obstruct
construction material from going to the uncleared areas.

HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN
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3. (SBU) Trincomalee has a need for 6000 permanent houses,
of which, GA Leelananda reported, ground has broken on 600.
The UNHCR said that of those 600, only 29 are completed.
Leelananda admitted that, although slow getting off the mark,
his office now had MOUs signed with donor organizations and
was expecting housing construction to accelerate. The GA has
identified six transitional housing zones as vulnerable to
monsoon flooding and is ready to handle their evacuation if
necessary. Housing for Life, a USAID partner organization,
reports that transitional housing design and construction in
the district vary in ability to withstand monsoon rains.
Houses range from having a concrete slab four inches above
the ground to a three foot foundation wall capable of
withstanding several days of rain. The GA said he learned of
the new coastal buffer zone regulations through the
newspaper. To date, he has not received details or guidance
from Colombo. There is much confusion among the displaced
over the new policy, according to the INGOs. In a positive
development, the UNHCR reported that the GSL and some NGOs
were ready to support getting conflict internally displaced
persons (CIDPs) into permanent houses. This change will
improve the lives of most people living in two major welfare
centers for IDPs and could result in the closure of those
centers in the future.

BULLETS OR BALLOTS
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4. (SBU) The November 17 presidential election raises many
challenges for the authorities in Trincomalee. Leelananda is
predicting a 60 per cent voter turnout. This includes an
estimated 20,000 Tamils coming from LTTE-controlled areas to
exercise their right. To accommodate the voters coming from
LTTE territory, the GA has arranged bus transportation to
shuttle the voters to 100 polling stations. Since
Trincomalee is always at the point of boiling over, according
to Leelananda, the police and armed forces have established a
joint security plan to suppress election violence. Oddly,
despite the high level of interest in Colombo, both the NGOs
and the GA have said there is little talk of elections among
the general population. LTTE political head Thamilchelvan's
comment that neither southern Sinhalese Buddhist candidate
can address the needs of the Tamil people may minimize Tamil
voter turnout.

COMMENT
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5. (C) While spared the daily killings of the shadow war in
adjoining Batticaloa district, Trincomalee remains a coiled
spring. The armed forces appear to have the situation in
hand, but mistrust of the Sinhalese soldiers persists among
Tamil residents. Having made the right decision in relaxing
the coastal buffer zone requirements, the GSL should act
quickly to ensure officials in the affected areas - like the
GA in Trincomalee - are given adequate guidelines for
implementation. The Ambassador raised the issue of ensuring
voters from uncleared areas would be able to vote with both
the GA and the SLA commander and received assurances from
both. This could be an important factor in what looks like a
close election.
LUNSTEAD