SRI LANKA: FRONT-LINE FIRE AS USUAL AFTER GENEVA

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001802 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2016 TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM PREF MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: FRONT-LINE FIRE AS USUAL AFTER GENEVA TALKS STALL REF: COLOMBO 1792 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: DCM James R. Moore for reasons 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (C) Engagement between Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued this week after October 28-29 peace talks in Geneva between the two parties ended with no significant breakthroughs and failed to produce agreement on dates for a next round of talks (reftel). Joint Chief of Staff Air Marshall Donald Perera told co-chair representatives on October 29 that LTTE cadres committed 12 ceasefire violations as talks were ongoing over the weekend (reftel). A military spokesperson confirmed to pol FSN media reports that security forces returned LTTE mortar and artillery fire along the Forward Defense Line (FDL) in Muhamalai, Jaffna, on October ¶30. On October 31, a suspected-LTTE claymore bomb exploded in the northern town of Vavuniya, killing one Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier and injuring three others. ¶2. (U) Meanwhile on October 30, unidentified gunmen shot dead a member of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Serunuwara, Batticaloa district. In Vavuniya, TNA district parliamentarian for the Tiger-controlled "Vanni," Shivanathan Kishore, survived uninjured a six-grenade attack on his residence. Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told the press October 31 that 16 LTTE cadres, some of them minors, had surrendered to security forces in Trincomalee the day before. (Note: On October 15, the LTTE Peace Secretariat inaugurated a Child Protection Authority in Kilinochchi to "ensure the security and full development of the children of Tamil Eelam.") ¶3. (C) Comment: Tiger provocations in the north and the escape and/or surrender of underage cadres as the LTTE returns from peace talks and touts child protection reveals the gap between LTTE intentions and the public image the Tigers try to cultivate. Attacks on democratically-elected pro-LTTE politicians, however, indicate that the GSL has yet to rein in paramilitary "third forces" such as the Karuna faction and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP). End comment. BLAKE