CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS IN BATTICALOA DECRY HUMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000341 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/INS, USPACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2017 TAGS: PHUM PREL PTER PGOV MOPS KHDP CE SUBJECT: CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS IN BATTICALOA DECRY HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN SITUATION REF: COLOMBO 328 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Ambassador participated in a visit to Batticaloa led by Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights Samarasinghe. Although the visit was disrupted by a mortar attack as the delegation arrived in Batticaloa (reftel),the delegation met with civil society leaders. The Ambassador told the group that after Jaffna, the Co-Chair and other Ambassadors considered the situation in Batticaloa to be the most grave in the country because of the almost 80,000 IDPs in the vicinity and the growing number of killings, abductions and human rights abuses by the Karuna group in particular. The Bishop of Batticaloa and other religious leaders decried the killings and abductions of innocent people and the intimidation by Karuna forces, which local security forces claimed they were powerless to stop. Samarasinghe assured him a draft witness protection law had been drafted and was now being discussed with civil society. An unidentified woman told the Minister that many of the IDPs from Vakarai and elsewhere are afraid to go back. The Minister assured her no forced resettlement would take place. The Bishop stated that without a witness protection program no one would come forward because everyone is afraid. Comment: The Ambassador, other diplomats and UN agency heads will remain closely engaged to ensure systematic follow-up. Stopping the abuses and illegal activities of the Karuna group will be a harder task and will require direct intervention by President Rajapaksa. End Summary. ¶2. (C) The delegation was led by Minister Samarasinghe and included the Ambassadors of the United States, Japan, Italy, France and Germany as well as the head of UN agencies Frederick Lyons and several other UN agencies. Half the delegation never made it to Batticaloa because the helicopter landing area came under shelling (reftel) obliging the helicopter to take off with half of the delegation still in the helicopter. While the group was waiting in the Batticaloa police station for the military to determine how to get the delegation back to Colombo, the delegation met with civil society leaders who had come for a previously planned meeting. ; Batticaloa to Be New Focus for Humanitarian Coordination Meeting in Colombo -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Samarasinghe opened the meeting by explaining that the purpose of the visit was to hear from local authorities, civil society and the people of Batticaloa about conditions on the ground. He noted that he and the US Ambassador formed part of a larger group called the Coordination Committee on Humanitarian Affairs (CCHA) that meets on a bi-weekly basis with the Secretary of Defense to discuss how to improve the humanitarian situation around the country. Already considerable progress has been made in Jaffna so the minister told the group that improving the situation in Batticaloa would become a major new focus for the CCHA in Colombo. ¶4. (C) The Minister invited Ambassador to speak on behalf of the other diplomats. Ambassador thanked Samarasinghe for leading the delegation and for his work within the CCHA to improve the humanitarian situation for the 500,000 IDPs and others in Sri Lanka that have been affected by the conflict. The Ambassador told the group that after Jaffna, the Co-Chair and other Ambassadors considered the situation in Batticaloa COLOMBO 00000341 002 OF 003 to be the most grave in the country because of the almost 80,000 IDPs in the vicinity and the growing number of killings, abductions and human rights abuses. The Co-Chairs considered the voluntary repatriation of IDPs to their villages to preserve the ethnic balance of the area a very high priority. The Ambassador underlined for both civil society leaders and the military commander and government agent who were present that the US and other Co-Chairs were particularly concerned about the increasingly brazen and illegal activities of the Karuna group in Batticaloa. He urged the Government of Sri Lanka to reassert its own control over law and order in Batticaloa and other parts of the east and stated that the abductions, raids on NGO warehouses and other illegal activities by Karuna must be stopped. Bishop: Batti Needs Peace and Justice -------------- ¶5. (C) The Bishop of Batticaloa as president of the local Interfaith Organization for Peace spoke first on behalf of the religious leaders. He expressed his sorrow and shame for the attack that had occurred against the delegation upon arrival noting that Batticaloa remained both a battle and refugee zone. He poignantly described the difficulties that many of the IDPs had suffered just getting to Batticaloa following the fighting in Vakarai and elsewhere. Many had perished in the jungles. Many others remain weak. He urged the military commander to remove weapons from civilian areas to reduce the risk of civilian casualties from LTTE retaliatory shelling. He also stated that the killings and abductions of innocent civilians must be stopped and that Batticaloa urgently needed peace and justice. Security Forces Helpless to Stop Karuna -------------- ¶6. (C) Father Joseph Mary, a Jesuit priest, affirmed his support for the Bishop's words and added his own concern about the numerous checkpoints every 10 kilometers that all bus travelers had to suffer through. At each checkpoint the military required all passengers to disembark, and have their papers and belongings thoroughly checked, making travel extremely difficult. He further lamented that buses were frequently diverted to smaller roads in very poor condition making travel for pregnant women and children particularly onerous. He thanked the Ambassador for his message about the need to rein in Karuna and confirmed that the day before he had seen a large group of Karuna cadres walking openly with guns in cleared areas near the school and the convent. He complained that when he protested the local security forces, the forces only shrugged their shoulders and claimed they were helpless to do anything about Karuna because of higher level support for his activities. Looking at the military commander Father Joseph told him "I am prepared to die. The police are helpful to me, but the people of Batticaloa are afraid." ¶7. (C) An unidentified woman stood up and told the Minister that many of the IDPs from Vakarai and elsewhere are afraid to go back. Samarasinghe assured her that there would be no forced resettlement. The woman stated that school boys and school girls had left their villages and were in hiding with relatives elsewhere to avoid forced recruitment by Karuna. Samarasinghe expressed sympathy and told her such incidents needed to be reported. The woman responded that people were afraid to file reports because they could see that the Karuna cadres were moving about freely and enjoyed the open support of the security forces. COLOMBO 00000341 003 OF 003 ¶8. (C) The Bishop interjected that without a witness protection program no one would come forward because everyone is afraid. He said, for example, that several young men who knew about the killings of the 17 Action Contre le Faim workers in Muttur had been threatened by security forces not to give evidence. Samarasinghe noted that the government had drafted witness protection legislation that was now being discussed with NGOs and other experts in Colombo. He hoped the legislation could be tabled in Parliament within a month or two. ¶9. (C) A Buddhist monk stood up to state that he had lived in Batticaloa for eight years and had been impressed with the peaceful coexistence of the Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese communities. He told the minister the government must take a stand against both the LTTE and Karuna to stop child recruitment and "the gun culture." ¶10. (C) Samarasinghe asked the government agent to brief everyone on his administration's efforts to address some of the problems. The GA noted that Batticaloa currently supports 79,191 IDPs, representing more than 21,000 families. He said approximately 10,000 IDPs were living in 49 "welfare centers;" all the others were living with relatives and friends. He acknowledged that while IDPs were receiving sufficient rice and dhal there was a significant protein shortage. He thanked UNICEF for its efforts to provide sanitation. He then described the government's efforts to rebuild the roads, electricity and other infrastructure in and around Vakarai to facilitate IDP returns. He reaffirmed the Minister's assurance that no families would be forcibly resettled. He said the government planned to take village leaders from the IDP camps to their villages prior to resettlement to show them the conditions on the ground and reassure them. The Ambassador remarked that demining needed to occur as quickly as possible, which the US was assisting, and urged the GA and the military to work with UN agencies and NGOs to help restore farming and fishing livelihoods as quickly as possible. Since there would inevitably be a lag before such activities could generate income, the GA also needed to be prepared to provide food and medical services for at least that interim period. The GA agreed. ¶11. (C) With respect to demining, the military commander explained that his forces were aiming to complete demining by March 6 of nine villages in and around Vakarai that have the majority of the IDP populations from that area. He also said that 10 of 11 schools had been rehabilitated and medical services restored. ¶12. (C) COMMENT: Despite the truncated nature of the visit because of the mortar attack, the delegation was nonetheless pleased to convey to civil society and the local security forces the international community's concern about the serious human rights and humanitarian situation in Batticaloa and the priority the government must attach to halting the abuses and illegal activities of the Karuna group. Samarasinghe's staff will now prepare a report and recommendations for how to address the issues the delegation identified. The Ambassador, other diplomats and UN agency heads will remain closely engaged to ensure systematic follow-up. Stopping the abuses and illegal activities of the Karuna group will be a harder task and will require direct intervention by President Rajapaksa. The mission recommends that as Washington policy makers send letters and call the President and other senior leaders, this must be one of our key messages. BLAKE