GOF PESSIMISTIC ON SRI LANKA CEASEFIRE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000783 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2016 TAGS: PREL CE EUN FI SUBJECT: GOF PESSIMISTIC ON SRI LANKA CEASEFIRE REF: STATE 128399 Classified By: Political Chief Gregory Thome, Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) Echoing reftel concerns about the escalating violence in Sri Lanka, MFA Asia Department Deputy Director Rauli Suikkanen, desk officer Marita Meranto, and EU secretariat first secretary Niklas Lindqvist told Emboff Helsinki is currently coordinating an EU demarche to be delivered this week to the GOSL requesting they respect the ceasefire agreement. Suikkanen noted that Sri Lanka had long languished on the EU agenda but that recent events had nudged the EU to consider a Council declaration along the same lines as the August 3 statement by External Relations Commissioner Ferraro-Waldner. He said that more action may be warranted before the September experts' meeting in Tokyo. ¶2. (C) Suikkanen was particularly concerned by the humanitarian situation, by the spread of violence to Colombo and by the possibility it could spread to tourist destinations. As a precaution Finland issued a travel advisory for Sri Lanka last week. The officials reconfirmed Finland's intention to withdraw their military monitors by the end of the month because the LTTE no longer welcomed the participation of EU member states in the mission. Additional Norwegian and Icelandic monitors would be deployed in the meantime, bringing the total number of monitors to about 30. In the unlikely event that the GOSL and LTTE quickly return to the terms of the ceasefire, the other Nordic monitors could be redeployed. Suikkanen had no specifics but said that Oslo was soliciting monitors from other countries. He noted, however, that the ceasefire agreement would have to be renegotiated if new parties joined the monitoring mission. ¶3. (SBU) The MFA officials pointed out that the EU presidency is represented in Colombo by Germany. They welcomed cooperation with the U.S. and requested information on pertinent USG steps in Sri Lanka. WARE