DHANAPALA SAYS GOVERNMENT WILLING TO COMPROMISE

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000373 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2015 TAGS: PGOV PTER CE JA LTTE SUBJECT: DHANAPALA SAYS GOVERNMENT WILLING TO COMPROMISE WITH LTTE ON AID MECHANISM Classified By: AMBASSADOR JEFFREY J. LUNSTEAD FOR REASON 1.5 (D). ¶1. (C) Ambassador met with head of Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat Jayantha Dhanapala February ¶16. Dhanapala launched immediately into a recounting of the status of the negotiations with the LTTE to set up a joint mechanism for reconstruction in the North and East. He said that the negotiations had been progressing fairly well, and then the Kausalyan killing upset everything. "It was the worst thing at the worst time." He then extensively described the reasons why the Army and the Government could not be blamed for the killing. ¶2. (C) Returning to the negotiations, Dhanapala said that on February 3 he had sent a fresh GSL proposal to the LTTE by email. Then the Kausalyan assassination spoiled the atmosphere. Even before that, however, there were problems. In his first six rounds of negotiations with LTTE Peace Secretariat head Pulidevan, things moved smoothly. However, when the proposals were sent to the LTTE Central Committee for clearance, things slowed down and became more difficult. ¶3. (C) After the Central Committee became involved, several important policy issues came up. For one, the LTTE now insisted that the mechanism should cover not only a band running two kilometers inland, but also the offshore areas. Second, the LTTE is resisting the GSL idea that the mechanism will come into being through a Presidential decision. Sri Lanka is a democracy with rule of law, Dhanapala said, and they must follow certain procedures. Nonetheless, he said, the GSL was willing to be very flexible on these issues. They could not compromise, however, on the composition of the committees which will be formed under the mechanism to administer reconstruction. They have agreed that the high-level committee will have three members: one Tamil, one Muslim and one Sinhalese. On the regional committees, however, there is disagreement. The LTTE wants six Tamils, three Muslims and two Sinhalese--a built-in Tamil majority. The GSL wants five instead of six Tamils, with some sort of tiebreaker provision. The GSL also wants to build in minority safeguards, so a majority cannot override the concerns of an ethnic minority. ¶4. (C) Dhanapala emphasized that he thought all of these issues could be resolved if the LTTE were willing to compromise. He had been expecting Pulidevan for several days, but he had not yet shown up. Ambassador commented that we and all other interested parties wanted very much for the mechanism negotiation to succeed. He said that there was probably a disconnect in experience and outlook. Veteran international negotiators like Dhanapala and Foreign Minister Kadirgamar were used to teasing out subtleties and trying to resolve them. The unsophisticated LTTE took a much less nuanced and more straightforward approach. Dhanapala agreed and said he thought it would be helpful if the LTTE's more sophisticated expatriate advisers returned to assist them. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Dhanapala obviously wants to make the mechanism negotiations work, but he takes a strong stand on points relating to the sovereignty of the government. As mentioned above, Dhanapala's somewhat legalistic approach probably does not mesh well with the LTTE's approach. Norwegian Ambassador Brattskar (who is in bed with the flu these days) will have his hands full in trying to keep this on track. Norwegian Special Envoy Eric Solheim will be here next week; perhaps he will have some luck. LUNSTEAD