ICELAND: PEACEKEEPERS STICKING IT OUT IN SRI LANKA

UNCLAS REYKJAVIK 000294 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EUR/NB, SCA/INS OSLO FOR DATT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPKO CE IC SUBJECT: ICELAND: PEACEKEEPERS STICKING IT OUT IN SRI LANKA REFS: A) STATE 128399 (NOTAL) B) USEU 2754 (NOTAL) C) HELSINKI 783 (NOTAL) ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: According to MFA officials, Iceland will probably maintain or even expand its peace monitoring mission in Sri Lanka following the withdrawal of EU peacekeepers, despite renewed media questioning of the appropriateness of Icelandic participation in peacekeeping in combat zones. The death or injury of an Icelander in Sri Lanka could have a grave impact on the GOI's stated plans to double its peacekeeping participation by 2008. END SUMMARY. 2.(SBU) Ministry for Foreign Affairs officials have confirmed to post that Iceland has no plans to withdraw its peacekeepers from the Nordic-run Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) following the withdrawal last month of the Swedish, Danish and Finnish SLMM contingents after the Liberation Tigers questioned the EU's neutrality. Iceland currently has five personnel assigned to the SLMM, now staffed only by Norwegians and Icelanders after the withdrawal of personnel from the three EU member states. ¶3. (SBU) Acting Director of the Iceland Crisis Response Unit (ICRU) Thorbjorn Jonsson told Poloff August 2 that the GOI intends to stay the course in Sri Lanka and may expand its SLMM staffing if the mission is unable to recruit new states as participants (Jonsson specifically mentioned Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore as possible contributors). On August 8, Advisor to the Foreign Minister Jorundur Valtysson told Poloff that the ICRU would "more than likely" send an additional five Icelanders to Sri Lanka, but that a final decision would depend on consultations between Icelandic Foreign Minister Valgerdur Sverrisdottir, her Norwegian counterpart (expected here on August 14),and Sri Lanka Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer (due here August 18). ¶4. (SBU) The EU members' withdrawal, however, has raised the mission's profile considerably here, and sparked questions in the media regarding the appropriateness of continuing Iceland's participation, let alone expanding it. Jonsson and Valtysson both dismissed increasingly skeptical coverage - including an August 2 editorial in leading daily Morgunbladid suggesting that Iceland should call its monitors home - as the product of "slow news days" at the height of summer holiday season. Prime Minister Geir Haarde has said that no decision had been taken and that it might even be necessary to withdraw Iceland's monitors from the mission. ¶5. (SBU) The killing of 17 humanitarian workers in Sri Lanka on August 6 has given the story new legs. Morgunbladid, expanding on its earlier doubts, questioned in an August 9 editorial whether Icelanders should take part in any military-related peacekeeping operations anywhere given that Iceland, as a country without its own military, "has not trained people to work in areas where military attacks can happen without warning." The editorial revived criticism of Icelandic civilian peacekeepers in Afghanistan, whose penchant for carrying arms and wearing battle dress uniform has in the past led Icelandic media and politicians to debate the existential question of when does a peacekeeper become a warrior. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: Absent a direct attack on SLMM personnel before Hanssen-Bauer's August 18 visit here, we expect the GOI to proceed with its plans to expand Icelandic participation in the mission. However, given current media attention, the death or injury of an Icelander in Sri Lanka could have a grave impact on the GOI's stated plans to double its peacekeeping participation by 2008. VAN VOORST