Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06CANBERRA1311
2006-08-28 07:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Canberra
Cable title:
AUSTRALIAN RESPONSE TO SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUP
VZCZCXYZ0000 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHBY #1311 2400754 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 280754Z AUG 06 FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5577 INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0957 RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0912 RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN PRIORITY 1495 RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PRIORITY 0575 RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 5024 RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR PRIORITY 2117 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1496 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0889 RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1990 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1221 RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH PRIORITY 0328 RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE PRIORITY 0967 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2342 RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0621 RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 1259 RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0107 RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0405
C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 001311
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2016
TAGS: MARR PHUM PINS PREL PTER AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIAN RESPONSE TO SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUP
EXPERTS MEETING INVITATION
REF: A. STATE 140812
B. STATE 107231
C. CANBERRA 888
D. STATE 94541
Classified By: Acting Polcouns John W. Crowley, for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 001311
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2016
TAGS: MARR PHUM PINS PREL PTER AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIAN RESPONSE TO SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUP
EXPERTS MEETING INVITATION
REF: A. STATE 140812
B. STATE 107231
C. CANBERRA 888
D. STATE 94541
Classified By: Acting Polcouns John W. Crowley, for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).
1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 6.
2. (SBU) Poloff met with Nigel Stanier, Executive Officer for
South and West Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
on August 28, 2006, to follow up Ref A invitation for
Australia to participate in the Contact Group's expert level
meeting in Washington on September 27.
3. (C/NF) Stanier expressed surprise upon learning of the
August 24 meeting, and to hear that no Australian Embassy
representative had attended. The Australian Embassy in
Washington had earlier relayed advice from unnamed contacts
in the Department that the Contact Group initiative "had been
overtaken by events," he said, giving Canberra the impression
that the initiative had been suspended.
4. (C/NF) Noting Foreign Minister Downer's strong personal
interest in the deterioration of the ceasefire in Sri Lanka,
Stanier said the GOA would plan to send a representative, if
not from Canberra then from the Embassy in Washington, to the
September 27 meeting. On the question of Australia's
confirmed participation in the Contact Group, he said the GOA
is not yet ready to commit, pending additional details about
how the Contact Group will operate, but wanted to have a
presence at Contact Group meetings.
5. (C/NF) On the status of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Elam (LTTE),Stanier said the GOA had not yet made a decision
whether to go beyond its current sanctions (asset freezing
and travel restrictions) against the LTTE and to list the
LTTE as a terrorist organization under its domestic laws.
Recent developments in Sri Lanka had "encouraged" the GOA to
lean more strongly in that direction, however. He cited as
examples the increase in LTTE-perpetrated violence and some
disturbing indications that it was targeting non-Sri Lankan
interests, such as the recent attack on the Pakistani High
Commission.
6. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: There appears to have been some
disconnect between the Australian Embassy and the Department
regarding the Contact Group. Embassy would appreciate
Department's assistance in contacting the Australian Embassy
to offer a briefing on the Contact Group's activities, or,
alternatively, providing us with the name of a contact we can
pass to the Australian Embassy through DFAT.
OWENS
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2016
TAGS: MARR PHUM PINS PREL PTER AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIAN RESPONSE TO SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUP
EXPERTS MEETING INVITATION
REF: A. STATE 140812
B. STATE 107231
C. CANBERRA 888
D. STATE 94541
Classified By: Acting Polcouns John W. Crowley, for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).
1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 6.
2. (SBU) Poloff met with Nigel Stanier, Executive Officer for
South and West Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
on August 28, 2006, to follow up Ref A invitation for
Australia to participate in the Contact Group's expert level
meeting in Washington on September 27.
3. (C/NF) Stanier expressed surprise upon learning of the
August 24 meeting, and to hear that no Australian Embassy
representative had attended. The Australian Embassy in
Washington had earlier relayed advice from unnamed contacts
in the Department that the Contact Group initiative "had been
overtaken by events," he said, giving Canberra the impression
that the initiative had been suspended.
4. (C/NF) Noting Foreign Minister Downer's strong personal
interest in the deterioration of the ceasefire in Sri Lanka,
Stanier said the GOA would plan to send a representative, if
not from Canberra then from the Embassy in Washington, to the
September 27 meeting. On the question of Australia's
confirmed participation in the Contact Group, he said the GOA
is not yet ready to commit, pending additional details about
how the Contact Group will operate, but wanted to have a
presence at Contact Group meetings.
5. (C/NF) On the status of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Elam (LTTE),Stanier said the GOA had not yet made a decision
whether to go beyond its current sanctions (asset freezing
and travel restrictions) against the LTTE and to list the
LTTE as a terrorist organization under its domestic laws.
Recent developments in Sri Lanka had "encouraged" the GOA to
lean more strongly in that direction, however. He cited as
examples the increase in LTTE-perpetrated violence and some
disturbing indications that it was targeting non-Sri Lankan
interests, such as the recent attack on the Pakistani High
Commission.
6. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: There appears to have been some
disconnect between the Australian Embassy and the Department
regarding the Contact Group. Embassy would appreciate
Department's assistance in contacting the Australian Embassy
to offer a briefing on the Contact Group's activities, or,
alternatively, providing us with the name of a contact we can
pass to the Australian Embassy through DFAT.
OWENS