SRI LANKA OPPOSITION LEADER AGREES ON NEED FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001972 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2016 TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM PREF MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA OPPOSITION LEADER AGREES ON NEED FOR RAPID PROGESS ON SLFP - UNP MOU REF: COLOMBO 1930 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador and Pol Chief met opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on November 24 to brief him on the result of the November 20-21 Co-Chairs meeting in Washington. Ambassador Blake told Wickremesinghe that the Co-Chairs had concluded the Memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Wickremesinghe's United National Party and the governing Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) appeared to hold out the only prospect of moving forward on the Peace Process, since there was no point in calling the parties to the table until the GSL had a concrete proposal to share. The Co-Chairs were therefore counting on the cooperation between the two major parties in southern Sri Lanka under the MoU to produce a viable peace offer to Sri Lanka's Tamils. Then it would be possible to call for another meeting between the GSL and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE). ¶2. (C) Wickremesinghe said he welcomed the Co-Chairs' statement, which was more substantive and forceful than previous ones. He said he was concerned, however, that the Tigers would attempt a major attack before LTTE head Prabhakaran's annual "Heroes' Day" speech on November 27. Possible targets would include Sri Lankan military intelligence and/or economic targets, for example, to cripple Sri Lanka's tourism industry. For that reason, he said, he couldn't consider making a conciliatory statement toward the Tigers at this time. ¶3. (C) Wickremesinghe said he had spoken to Indian Foreign Secretary (and former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka) Menon. SIPDIS Both had discussed the need for maximum restraint, and how to put pressure on the Sri Lankan army to refrain from offensive operations. Ambassador noted that Army Chief of Staff Fonseka was already in Washington, and would meet senior State and Defense officials on November 27 - 28. He told Wickremesinghe that Fonseka would get a very frank message that while the U.S. supported Sri Lanka's right to defend itself, that support was not unconditional and would depend on military restraint and on improvement on human rights. ¶4. (C) Wickremesinghe said the next important step in the peace process would be for President Rajapaksa to convene a meeting of the High Level Committee of the UNP and SLFP. Wickremesinghe said ideally this would take place before Rajapaksa's and his own trips to India the week of November ¶27. However, he was not sure this would happen. He asked the Ambassador to bring the matter up to the President. Ambassador replied that he and other Co-Chairs would seek a meeting with Rajapaksa after the visit to India and would deliver the message on the need for progress on the MoU. ¶5. (C) Following this, Wickremesinghe said, the High Level Committee would have to deal with Experts' Committee report on possible future constitutional arrangements. He said that the government's offer to the Tigers would have to go beyond previous attempts at a settlement. He had successfully pressed to have an option of re-merging the North and East provinces and an option for a federal state considered by the experts. ¶6. (C) Wickremesinghe noted that the All-Party Conference, which includes the Sinhalese chauvinist parties, would also have to consider the settlement offer. He and Ambassador agreed that it was vital that the nationalist JVP be given a chance to vent its concerns but could not be allowed to have a veto over the offer the GSL would make to the Tamils. ¶7. (C) COMMENT: Wickremesinghe told us he plans to visit Washington and New York the week of December 10. COLOMBO 00001972 002 OF 002 Wickremesinghe is not just the leader of Sri Lanka's opposition and a former Prime Minister. His role in the future of the peace process is absolutely critical. Embassy therefore recommends that he be received at a senior level by U/S Burns and A/S Boucher. BLAKE