DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUPS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 008507 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2016 TAGS: PTER PREL PREF PGOV CE ID SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUPS REF: A. STATE 94541 (SRI LANKAN PEACE PROCESS) ¶B. 05 JAKARTA 12720 (DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON LTTE ACTIVITIES) Classified By: Marc L. Desjardins, Political Counselor. Reason: 1.4 (b , d) ¶1. (C) Summary. On July 6, officials at the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) expressed interest in our proposal for creation of two new contact groups on the Sri Lankan conflict, and will let us know in the coming weeks about possible Indonesian participation. They said that the Sri Lankan Ambassador had met with Foreign Minister Wirajuda July 5 to urge for more timely GOI reaction to reports of LTTE arms transshipments through Indonesia. They also reported that over the last month or so, about a hundred Tamils arriving in Jakarta on valid tourist visas had demanded asylum. The DFA is investigating the circumstances under which the visas were issued, and is tightening its visa issuance procedures for Sri Lankans. End summary ¶2. (C) We met July 6 with Mohammad Asruchin, Director of the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Directorate, and India/Sri Lanka Country Officer Winanto Adi to urge that Indonesia become a member of the proposed contact group on arms transshipments to the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) (reftel A). We said that we are redoubling our own efforts to salvage the Sri Lankan peace process, and were urging the international community to help us in this. Indonesia, we said, could be a valued member of the proposed contract group on arms movements because of past patterns of LTTE arms shipments through Southeast Asia (reftel B). Asruchin said he would convey our initiative for the new contact groups to higher levels of the DFA, and inform us of the GOI's decision whether to participate in the coming weeks. ¶3. (C) Asruchin responded that our demarche was timely, since the GOI has been more focused recently on Sri Lanka. On July 5, the Sri Lankan Ambassador had called on Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda. The Ambassador, he said, had expressed concern that Indonesia was not responding rapidly enough to reports of arms reaching the LTTE through Indonesia. Asruchin acknowledged that on at least one recent occasion, the Sri Lankans had approached the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) with specific information about arms transshipments through Indonesian waters, but by the time the DFA had coordinated with the Indonesian intelligence services and military, it was unable to track the shipment in question. Asruchin said that in the past, the LTTE had had contacts with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM, which has since signed a peace accord with the GOI),so there was a possibility that transshipments were still occurring. The GOI, Asruchin said, was therefore seeking to improve internal coordination in order to be more responsive to the Sri Lanka's concerns. He noted also that Indonesia and Sri Lanka were forming a bilateral commission that would meet later this year or early in 2007 to address a broad bilateral agenda. ¶4. (C) Asruchin went on to say that Indonesia was concerned about Sri Lanka for another reason. Over the past month or so, about 100 Tamils had arrived in Jakarta on tourist visas and demanded asylum. They were now being housed in an immigration facility in West Jakarta, and the GOI was attempting to process them through the UN High Commission on Refugees Office. The GOI had requested the assistance of the International Organization for Migration with this. Hinting at malfeasance or worse in the Indonesian Embassy in Colombo, Asruchin said that it was unclear how and why the Tamils had obtained their visas, and noted that the DFA was investigating. He said that the DFA would likely tighten its visa issuance procedures. He said that Jakarta already must approve all Sri Lankan visa applications, but that dossiers from their embassy in Colombo need to be more complete. ¶5. (C) In a separate conversation with the UNHCR branch office in Jakarta, Shinji Kubo, Head of Protective Services, told our human rights officer that they recently registered some 140-150 newly arrived Sri Lankans. Most of the Sri Lankans were young males between the ages of 16 and 20 and based their asylum claim on a fear of Sri Lankan security forces and harassment as a result of the ongoing conflict. Kubo speculated that the GOI was nervous for two reasons: that the Sri Lankans arrived in Indonesia in an "irregular manner" pointing to an Indonesian crime syndicate and JAKARTA 00008507 002 OF 002 corruption; and the potential for a flood of Sri Lankan asylum applicants should their fellow nationals successfully resettle in Indonesia. ¶6. (SBU) Kubo said that the recent Sri Lankan cases was the equivalent of a two year workload for the UNCHR branch office in Jakarta, and therefore, the Sri Lankans would have temporary protection in Indonesia by default because the GOI will not forcefully deport them. In the meantime, the GOI has plans to relocate the Sri Lankans from West Jakarta to Makassar where facilities can better accommodate the group. PASCOE