SRI LANKA: DEFENSE SECRETARY CANDIDLY BRIEFS FOREIGN MEDIA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000464 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/INS (BERNICAT, SIM, GOWER) AND SCA/PD (NEVILLE) MCC FOR S GROFF, D NASSIRY, E BURKE AND F REID E.O. 12958:N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PTER EAID MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: DEFENSE SECRETARY CANDIDLY BRIEFS FOREIGN MEDIA ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa held a closed door, off-the-record meeting with members of the Foreign Correspondents Association and some foreign diplomats. In response to pointed questions, Rajapaksa gave blunt answers, revealing a different side to that usually shown the diplomatic community. He referred to human rights as an obstacle in the fight against terrorism and predicted a military eradication of the LTTE in three years. He dismissed international criticism as "politics." End Summary. LETTING HIS HAIR DOWN -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On March 13, Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa held a 90-minute question-and- answer-session with members of the Foreign Press Association. Also in the audience were representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the UN and some western diplomatic missions. (The U.S. was not invited, but we obtained readouts from multiple sources present). Radiating confidence and speaking bluntly under the cover of off-the-record ground rules, Gothabaya gave his version and vision of Sri Lanka. WE KNOW WHO OUR FRIENDS ARE -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Gothabaya stated that the United States, India, China and Pakistan supported the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) fully in its fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He noted specifically that the United States provided logistics, intelligence, training, equipment and moral support to the GSL. PLAYING TO WIN -------------- ¶4. (SBU) When participants brought up Ambassador's many statements that the U.S. does not believe there can be a military solution to the conflict, the Defense Secretary laughed it off, saying Ambassador Blake was wrong. When pressed by another journalist that no other country thought Sri Lanka could achieve a military victory, Gothabaya's temper flared: "I'm here to win this war. You don't go to a match and play for a draw, you play to win." He added, "We've chased the Tigers into the jungles. We can achieve a military victory over the Tigers in two to three years." When asked why Sri Lanka had not already defeated the LTTE, Gothabaya answered: "We must show perseverance. We must not be stopped by obstacles, by internal and external pressures over human rights or humanitarian crises." He went on to condemn local political parties for thinking of themselves and not on the nations' behalf. ¶5. (SBU) Gothabaya claimed the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) has a new war-fighting technique to eliminate civilian casualties -- areas would be cleared of civilians first and then the terrorists would be engaged. Gothabaya said the Sri Lankan military would take every opportunity to destroy LTTE assets wherever possible, gradually breaking the Tigers' will and restricting them to the jungle. One observer reported that Gothabaya made it clear that the Army was on the offensive and that the GSL terming its operations "defensive" was just politics. GOING HOME -------------- ¶6. (SBU) On the subject of resettling land cleared of the LTTE, Gothabaya stated that some areas of Sampur would not be repopulated with the original residents in order to set up a High Security Zone to protect the Trincomalee harbor entrance and the proposed new power plant. Gothabaya also noted that 384 Sinhalese families who previously lived in Sampur had filed claims that had to be resolved before all the Tamils could return. MISSING -------------- COLOMBO 00000464 002 OF 002 ¶7. (SBU) Gothabaya said that the figure of 1,300 alleged abductions was inflated, joking that he couldn't abduct that many people if he wanted to. He went on to claim that abductions in Sri Lanka were no worse than in other countries, such as the U.S. He informed the journalists that most of the missing are LTTE cadres who had returned to their units and that instead of asking the GSL, critics and journalists should check the lists against the 700 Tigers he said were killed in Vakarai. CRITICAL REVIEWS -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Gothabaya observed that it took five years for opposition in the U.S. to build against the Global War on Terror, but even now, he said, the debate was more over methods than goals. He also dismissed criticism from the international community as mere politics, pointing out those countries critical of the GSL were still providing aid money. He called the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission useless, saying they might as well be on vacation and were only in Sri Lanka to improve their resumes and to collect $1000 per month in hazard pay. ¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: All of our six interlocutors' accounts of the meeting were consistent. The Secretary's candid comments are in marked contrast to his more guarded statements in official meetings. Gothabaya's wisecracks about abductions strike us as glib and ill-considered since many disappearances end fatally for the victims. BLAKE