SRI LANKA: LOCAL NGOS INDICT LTTE, KARUNA, AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001051 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/26/2016 TAGS: PTER PHUM MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: LOCAL NGOS INDICT LTTE, KARUNA, AND SECURITY FORCES IN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES REF: A. COLOMBO 1047 ¶B. COLOMBO 1041 ¶C. COLOMBO 1030 ¶D. COLOMBO 1022 Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead. 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary. Poloff spoke with representatives from several of Sri Lanka's primary NGOs and think tanks June 21-22 to get their views on the military engagement between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) since a June 15 presumably-LTTE bus bombing which killed 68 (reftel D). Meanwhile, LTTE political wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan told the Associated Press that the Tigers will use all military options, including suicide attacks on Colombo, "if the GSL pushes" them back into a "full-scale war." The NGO analysts, representing Sri Lanka's Sinhalese and Tamil communities, blamed both parties for the deterioration of the Ceasefire Agreement signed in February 2002, but saw the slide into armed conflict difficult to reverse unless the GSL offers a credible political alternative to the Tamil community. As the Co-Chairs have stressed before, the NGO community sees confidence building measures on the part of the GSL toward the Tamil community as one key element to redirecting the conflict toward a negotiated solution. End summary. -------------- Tigers Growl Periodically -------------- ¶2. (C) The LTTE has denied responsibility for a claymore mine attack on a civilian bus between north-central Vavuniya and Anuradhapura on June 15 that killed 68 civilians and injured many others (refel D),instead decrying retaliatory aerial bombings and surveillance flights by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) over Tiger-controlled areas near Kilinocchi, Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, and Batticaloa June 15-16 (reftel C). Reiterating a common LTTE threat, on June 21, Tiger political wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan told a Reuters correspondent that his organization would utilize all means at their disposal, including suicide attacks on Colombo, should the GSL "push them into a full-scale war." (Note: The Tigers make such threats periodically. On May 16, the LTTE's peace secretariat chief S. Pulidevan said the LTTE is prepared to resume the civil war.) Tamilselvan's threatening statement followed the LTTE's June 21 insistence to Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattstar that the organization will not accept ceasefire monitors from EU states (reftel A). -------------- Confidence Building Accountability -------------- ¶3. (C) Pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member of Parliament (MP) from Trincomalee district Mr. R. Sampanthan told poloff on June 22: "Confidence in the respective parties (LTTE and GSL) is at the lowest ebb. We have never had so many spoilers who are so very active." The spoilers increasingly seem to involve members of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Indian Sri Lanka analyst M.R. Narayan Swami quoted to poloff a civilian source on June 20, saying: "The GSL is utterly unaccountable and the people are desperate. In a number of incidents, a soldier kills a man on the road and no questions are asked." ¶4. (C) Sinhalese and Tamil leaders in the NGO community seem convinced that the GSL, as well as the LTTE, are currently responsible for gross human rights violations against civilians. National Peace Council (NPC) analyst S.P. Nathan indicted the GSL for "denying every killing the security forces might have committed without even investigating" in a June 21 meeting with poloff. National Peace Council director Dr. Jehan Perera lamented to poloff on June 21 that the GSL has not owned up to the security forces ongoing crimes. On June 22, Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies COLOMBO 00001051 002 OF 003 (CHA) Executive Director Jeevan Thiagarajah told poloff that he believed President Rajapaksa is well-meaning but may not understand the degree to which security forces engage Tamil civilians on the ground. He contended, "The President believes in the military structure, but the structure doesn't always respond the way he intends." -------------- Clandestine Karuna -------------- ¶5. (C) The NGO community views the eastern LTTE-breakaway Karuna faction as one of the key spoilers to the current peace process. Non-Violent Peace Force (NVPF) regional director Kingsley Ayetty in Batticaloa contended to pol FSN on June 22 that most incidents attributed to the LTTE in the east involve the Karuna faction, who are not a part of the CFA. "We have a good relationship with the LTTE, GSL and military," he noted, asking, "How do we do advocacy work with the Karunas when we have no dialog with them? They are not a recognized party (to the ceasefire) but they seem to be active." ¶6. (C) CHA director Jeevan Thiagarajah sympathizes with the GSL's presumed attempt to use the breakaway Karuna faction to weaken the LTTE, an issue upon which the LTTE has harped since before the February CFA talks in Geneva. "It's too late for the military to admit it's using Karuna as a front line now." Interestingly, a Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) report issued in May 2006 notes that 37% of Sinhalese interviewed island-wide believed that the Karuna group should not be disarmed. ¶7. (C) UNICEF district coordinator for Batticaloa Christina de Bruin told pol FSN June 22 that the rate of abductions in Batticaloa, where the Karuna faction has a strong presence, has increased dramatically since February, but that UNICEF is handicapped to act because it has no links with the Karuna faction. De Bruin's account was reinforced by a UNICEF press release of June 22 condemning abduction and recruitment of Sri Lankan children by the Karuna group operating the east. UNICEF described the 30-plus abductions since June 15 as "designed to add a climate of fear in communities." UNICEF appealed to the GSL to investigate the abductions, which the pro-LTTE Tamilnet website alleged in a June 16 article were aided by security forces. -------------- Political Alternative to Status Quo -------------- ¶8. (C) CHA Executive Director Jeevan Thiagarajah reiterated to poloff on June 22 what many analysts have observed about the LTTE: In the absence of political negotiation, the Tigers must either fight or become obsolete. "Privately, the LTTE still wants a settlement," he added. Jeevan advocated that the U.S. and other Co-Chairs come together with other members of the international community, such as Canada and Switzerland, to form a contact group with the GSL on devolution "so the LTTE can't say there is no viable political agenda." Opined NPC director Jehan Perera to poloff on June 16, "Peace is a long-term process. We must give courage and strength to the community" to pursue a negotiated settlement. ¶9. (C) "There is still space to engage civil society," CHA's Jeevan argued. "Public accountability must be pursued with vigor through the media. There is no censorship yet (of the media)." On June 21, S.P. Nathan of the National Peace Council (NPC) also advocated a strengthened civil society to poloff: "The peace movement must be owned by the people, not the leadership or the NGOs in Colombo." The NPC sponsors reporting trips of "southern" Sinhalese journalists to Tamil areas in the North and East, and Tamil journalists to the "hard-line" south. COLOMBO 00001051 003 OF 003 -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Comment. Our contacts with "on the ground" NGOs and think tanks confirm several points we've been reporting: the military keeps the Karuna faction going, civilians have been targeted by security forces of late and the civilian control of the military is uneven. These groups are equally eloquent on the depth of Tiger ruthlessness and contempt for human rights. End comment. LUNSTEAD