Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06COLOMBO843
2006-05-22 12:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

SRI LANKA: NGO OFFICES TARGETED, LTTE EASTERN

Tags:  PTER PGOV PHUM EAID CE 
pdf how-to read a cable
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OO RUEHBI
DE RUEHLM #0843/01 1421234
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 221234Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3426
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 9648
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2171
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3009
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 6098
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 9207
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 3097
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 4133
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0862
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 0233
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 6651
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 4540
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000843 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2016
TAGS: PTER PGOV PHUM EAID CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: NGO OFFICES TARGETED, LTTE EASTERN
MILITARY DEPUTY KILLED AS LOW-INTENSITY CONFLICT CONTINUES

REF: A. COLOMBO 620

B. COLOMBO 792

C. COLOMBO 759

Classified By: James F. Entwistle, Charge' d'Affaires, a.i. Reason: 1
.4 (B,D).

-------
SUMMARY
--------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000843

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2016
TAGS: PTER PGOV PHUM EAID CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: NGO OFFICES TARGETED, LTTE EASTERN
MILITARY DEPUTY KILLED AS LOW-INTENSITY CONFLICT CONTINUES

REF: A. COLOMBO 620

B. COLOMBO 792

C. COLOMBO 759

Classified By: James F. Entwistle, Charge' d'Affaires, a.i. Reason: 1
.4 (B,D).

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) deputy
eastern military commander was one of several fatalities as
violence continued in the embattled north and east May 20-21.
Unknown perpetrators threw grenades into the offices of
three international NGOs in a government-controlled town in
the eastern district of Trincomalee on May 21, injuring one
expatriate aid worker and two local civilians. The UNHCR
Resident Representative (and, currently, Acting UN Resident
Coordinator) met Charge' May 22 to advise that the UN would
be issuing a statement condemning the attacks and to ask for
a parallel U.S. statement. Text of the UN statement follows
in Para 9 below; text of the Embassy statement follows in
Para 10. While it is often difficult to determine the
perpetrators of the different--and regrettably
frequent--violent incidents over recent weeks, the fact
remains that with each attack that occurs in Government-held
territory, the Government appears less and less in control
and more and more like a passive observer. End summary.


--------------
MORE GUNS AND GRENADES
IN NORTH AND EAST
--------------



2. (SBU) Violence continued over the weekend May 20-21 in
the north and east of Sri Lanka. On May 20 a 12-year-old
Tamil student was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in
front of his grandmother's house in the eastern district of
Batticaloa, while two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were
killed May 21 in separate incidents in the eastern district
of Trincomalee and the northern district of Vavuniya. The
second-in-command of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) eastern military wing was killed May 21 in Vavunithivu
in Batticaloa District. The LTTE dissident Karuna faction
claimed responsibility, contending that that the Tiger

eastern military deputy and 10 other LTTE cadres were killed
in a skirmish in LTTE-controlled territory. The LTTE, while
confirming the killing of "Ramanan," its eastern military
deputy, charged that he was assassinated by an SLA sniper.
(Note: In the east, the Forward Defense Lines separating
Government- and LTTE-controlled territory are ill-defined.
Vavunithivu is about three or four km from the nearest
Government security forces installation.)


3. (SBU) On May 22 Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM)
Spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir told poloff that truce monitors
had been unable to reach Vavunithivu the previous day to
inspect the site but were currently en route. She confirmed
that SLMM had received a request from the LTTE to bring
Ramanan's family from the north to Batticaloa for the funeral.

--------------
NGOS TARGETED;
ONE EXPATRIATE INJURED
--------------



4. (SBU) Also on May 21 grenades were lobbed into the
offices of three foreign NGOs--the Belgian-based Nonviolent
Peace Force, the Italian Inter SOS and the Dutch ZOA--in
Muttur in Trincomalee District. One Serbian employee of the
Nonviolent Peace Force and two local civilians were injured
in the incidents. The injured Serbian national (who had

COLOMBO 00000843 002 OF 004


apparently just stepped outside the office at the time of the
attack) was airlifted to Colombo for medical treatment and is
reportedly out of danger.


5. (C) On May 22 Amin Awad, UNHCR Resident Representative
and Acting UN Resident Co-ordinator, called on Charge' to
share his concern that the Muttur incident, which clearly
targeted humanitarian agencies, marked a new low in the
steadily worsening security situation. He reported that his
office would draft a press statement condemning the attacks
for local release and a suggested statement for possible
issuance by the UN Secretary General. Awad said a U.S.
statement would be greatly appreciated. He added that he
would be calling on other Co-Chair Chiefs of Mission to seek
support, as well as the Foreign Secretary. Awad said he
doubted that the LTTE, which, despite its frequently inhumane
demeanor, generally welcomes the presence of international
humanitarian agencies, was behind the attacks. Because
Tamils have suffered the most from the recent escalation and
thus are more often the beneficiaries of international
humanitarian aid in the area, the perception among other
ethnic groups and even at certain levels in the Government of
Sri Lanka (GSL) is that INGOs are "pro-Tamil" and even
"pro-Tiger," Awad noted. He offered UNHCR as an example.
Because UNHCR's mandate is to work with refugees and
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),almost all of whom
recently have been Tamil, some Sri Lankans mistakenly believe
that UNHCR "favors" Tamils. For this reason, he said, he has
encouraged aid workers in the area to target some
representative portion of total assistance to Sinhalese
communities as well, "even if it's only five or ten percent."
He highlighted growing unease among the NGO community in
Sri Lanka at recent reports of GSL intimidation of NGO
workers, citing an incident in which GTZ, the bilateral
German aid agency, had a training session in Anuradhapura
District interrupted by police who demanded to know the
identities of Tamil and Muslim participants in the program.



6. (C) Contacts at the Nonviolent Peace Force and at ZOA
said that mission directors were traveling from Colombo to
Muttur on May 22 and still had not assessed the situation
completely. SLMM Spokeswoman Olafsdottir told poloff that
monitors in Trincomalee believe that the culprits may have
been disgruntled members of the local Muslim community who
were "not happy" that these NGOs were working with Tamils,
often in LTTE-controlled territory. She said that her
monitors had heard rumors that the NGOs had received threats
before the attacks. Olafsdottir reported that the three NGOs
had decided to close their offices in Muttur for the time
being.

--------------
GOVERNMENT NOT DOING ITS PART
--------------


7. (C) While Awad did not want to speculate about who might
have perpetrated the attacks in Muttur, he expressed
disappointment at the GSL reaction in general to the
escalating violence and increased flows of IDPs and refugees.
Local Tamil residents who fled communal mob violence
following the April 12 bombing of a market in Trincomalee
(Ref A) told UNHCR they did not feel secure enough to return,
primarily because police had stood by and watched as their
homes were burned. Under UNHCR procedures, the organization
will facilitate the return of those who express a desire to
go back to their communities, but the newly appointed
Governor of the Northeast (a former Sri Lanka Navy Commander)
is demanding that all IDPs return to their homes within three
days--whether they want to or not. Awad also noted with
concern press reports that in the course of the inquest into
the May 13 shooting deaths of nine members of the same family
in Kayts (Ref B),GSL security forces had stated that they
could not provide security to local residents. (Note: Sri
Lanka Army Spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told
poloff he was still trying to confirm what was actually said

COLOMBO 00000843 003 OF 004


in court, but the "ground reality" was that the security
forces could not guarantee the security of all residents in
areas like Kayts.) Some Kayts residents were reportedly
fleeing to LTTE-controlled territory, Awad said. (SLMM's
Olafsdottir confirmed that truce monitors had received
reports of either 150 residents or 150 families--unclear
which--staying at a church in Government-controlled territory
in Jaffna awaiting passage into LTTE-controlled territory
from Kayts. SLMM had received unconfirmed reports from some
IDPs that the Sri Lanka Army had attempted to stop them en
route, she said.) In addition, Awad said there were "a few
hundred" would-be refugees in the northwestern district of
Mannar awaiting transportation by boat to India. UNHCR was
still trying to confirm press reports that a boat with
refugees en route to India from Sri Lanka had sunk over the
weekend, he said.

--------------
UNHCR CONSIDERS THRESHOLD FOR
LOW-INTENSITY WAR JUST ABOUT MET
--------------


8. (C) UNHCR has activated its contingency plan for
low-intensity war (based on a threshold of 50,000 refugees or
IDPs),Awad reported, since "we're almost there (in terms of
numbers of displaced) already." He noted that his agency's
assessment of the need to begin contingency planning tracks
with ICRC's (Ref C). (Note: According to UNHCR's best
estimates, slightly over 1,000 refugees have left Sri Lanka
for India since January. Trincomalee District has the
greatest number of recent IDPs, with nearly 31,000 people
still displaced after ethnic violence and GSL aerial and
artillery strikes in April. End note.) The UN system's
security level for Sri Lanka remains at three (out of a
possible five),although "we should be at four in truth,"
Awad reported.


--------------
UN COLOMBO STATEMENT
--------------


9. (U) Text of the statement issued by the Office of the UN
Resident Co-ordinator in Sri Lanka on May 22 follows below.

Begin text: The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator in Sri Lanka is appalled by the continuing
despicable attacks on humanitarian workers in the north and
east.

Yesterday's grenade attacks on three international
non-governmental organizations in Muthur, Trincomalee
District, resulted in serious injuries to one international
staff member and two civilians. Last week an employee of the
Norwegian Refugee Council was shot dead in Vavuniya while
returning home from work.

We strongly condemn these attacks which undermine the ability
of the humanitarian community to freely conduct operations,
and which instill fear into the thousands of men, women and
children to whom we provide relief and assistance. These
attacks must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to
justice.

The Government of Sri Lanka and all parties to the conflict
must ensure the protection and safety of all humanitarian aid
organizations workig in the country.

All parties must urgently hal the current escalation of
violence which is affcting innocent civilians, and work
urgently towads a peaceful solution to the current impasse.

End text.

--------------
US EMBASSY STATEMENT

COLOMBO 00000843 004 OF 004


--------------


10. (U) Begin text:

The United States condemns the grenade attacks committed
Sunday, May 21, against three international non-governmental
organizations (INGO's) in Muttur. The unprovoked attacks
against Inter SOS, ZOA and the Non-Violent Peace Force
resulted in injuries to several people, including an
expatriate NGO worker. These INGO's are working in Sri Lanka
to meet humanitarian needs and bring people together in the
search for a lasting peace in the country. Violent attacks
against such organizations are deplorable and undercut
efforts to lay the groundwork for a resumption of talks
leading to a final settlement.

COMMENT
--------------


11. (C) Ramanan's killing is a setback for the LTTE; in the
ongoing tit-for-tat violence, the Tigers can be expected to
reciprocate--and not necessarily with commensurate
force--against GSL, Karuna or even hapless civilian targets.
It is hard to say who may have decided to throw a few
grenades into NGO offices in the ethnically polarized
district of Trincomalee. There is a strong undercurrent of
resentment against NGOs perceived as "soft" on the Tigers in
some of the Sinhalese community; the same could, presumably,
be true in the Muslim community as well. But the more
frequent the incidents of violence in Government-held
territory--and the more obvious the failure of the GSL to
provide security to local residents--the less the Government
seems to be in control and the more it seems like only an
ineffectual observer of the recurring bloodshed.
ENTWISTLE