SRI LANKA: ENGAGING THE TAMIL DIASPORA

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000314 DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2018 TAGS: PREL PHUM PINS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: ENGAGING THE TAMIL DIASPORA Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Tamil Diaspora is vocal, internet-savvy and heavily influenced by hard-line views. Recent demonstrations across North America and Europe showed the diaspora unafraid to label the GSL "genocidal". In response to hundreds of e-mails received, Ambassador and other Mission staff engage with the Diaspora community by pointing out the steps the USG has taken to help alleviate suffering. Ambassador and other Mission members also use our e-mail correspondence to push back against the more exaggerated claims of "concentration camps" and genocide. Unsurprisingly, the most vocal elements of the community also hold the most hard-line views. However, the Diaspora is not homogenous. Post recommends further attempts to engage the U.S.-based Diaspora to help convey our message on U.S. efforts to help Sri Lankan Tamils. Ambassadir suggests Department organize a DVC for him and Department officials to engage U.S. Diaspora groups. Engagement would also allow Post to prod Tamil groups to play a more constructive role - and apply pressure on the Tamil Tigers to allow civilians to escape the fighting. End Summary. Tamil Diaspora: Hard-line, Internet-Savvy and Bound Together in Outrage -------------- ¶2. (U) In the February issue of REACH, a monthly newsletter of the Tamil Youth Organization of Canada, an anonymous article appeared. In it, the author, a second-generation member of the Diaspora wrote, "I sit here in front of my computer, surfing the net, messaging on Facebook, clicking through websites to see if there is any improvement in our situation back home. I feel guilty every day... Am I a Sri Lankan? A Canadian? A Sri Lankan Tamil? A Tamil Canadian? What am I? Or should I simply be a Tamil? I guess we are all eagerly waiting for the day to say "I am a Tamil from Tamil Eelam." ...I drive home with hundreds of thoughts running through my mind... then it all stops when I see a Tamil standing at the intersection, hold a sign 'STOP Tamil Genocide'... Do we deserve this? Why did this happen to us? Then I realize, if this is how I feel in Canada... imagine the pain of my people in my home land... running for their lives, bleeding to death, screaming to let them live, hiding so they don't get raped... hoping to see just one more day... the pain is UNBEARABLE. I feel the power when I am in protest and I see my fellow Tamils scream together for justice. I feel proud to see the youth who are born and raised here, standing together for their brothers and sisters miles away. I feel the solidarity when we are standing soul to soul crying for help." ¶3. (U) Like the author of the article above the Tamil Diaspora, a highly educated, internet-savvy group across Europe, North America, Australia and several other countries has long been a source of funding and hard-line support for the LTTE. As Sri Lanka's humanitarian crisis has worsened, Diaspora anger and lobbying have increased. One March 16, members of the Tamil community held demonstrations in Toronto (100,000 participants),Brussels (25,000 participants), Geneva (10,000 participants) and New York (200 participants). The demonstrators carried Tamil Eelam flags, pictures of LTTE Supremo Prabakharan and labeled GSL actions "genocidal." They described government-run IDP camps as "internment without any freedom." They demanded that the EU rescind the listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization and that the U.S. Administration appoint a special envoy. A Flood of E-mails -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Ambassador and a number of Embassy officers receive e-mails from the diaspora on a daily basis, most of tem expressing points of view similar to those ofthe demonstrators. At times these e-mails inclue fake or exaggerated claims posted on pro-LTTE ebsites. The emails typically focus on: the growing humanitarian crisis (and often call for an immediate cease-fire); the condition of civilians in the "safe zone" and in IDP camps in Vavuniya; and Sri Lanka's post-colonial history that has been marked by official discrimination, human rights abuses, and mob violence directed against Tamils. Ambassador and other Mission staff have made a point of engaging those who have written. In reply, we stress the USG's commitment to a viable long-term political solution that meets the aspirations of all of Sri Lanka's communities. In response to humanitarian issues, we point to the emergency humanitarian assistance the USG has provided, most prominently the $28 million in food assistance delivered through the World Food Programme. UN U/SYG Holmes assessment to the Security Council in February provides a neutral, third-party view of the situation in the conflict zone and in the IDP camps that undercuts the more extreme claims of Sri Lankan Army-run "concentration camps." In our e-mail replies we have specifically addressed the genocide charge calling it "an overstatement," while also cataloging the numerous times he and other senior U.S. officials have spoken out forcefully against documented human rights abuses. Diaspora Not Homogenous -------------- ¶5. (C) While the most vocal elements of the Diaspora are often the most hard-line, the Tamil community overseas is not homogeneous. The Norwegians speak to the more moderate elements of the Diaspora in an attempt to engage the community as a whole. As the Norwegians have found, though, after the death of LTTE political head Anton Balasingham, there is no trusted confidant in LTTE Supremo Vellupillai Prabakharan's inner-circle that has significant life experience outside the Vanni. This makes it inordinately difficult to soften the LTTE's now hardened position on freeing the civilian population. While Difficult, We Should Engage -------------- ¶6. (C) Recognizing the difficulty of engagement, Post recommends a redoubled effort to reach out to Tamil groups in the U.S. A number of organizations, including Tamils for Justice, Tamils for Obama and PEARL remain active politically and opportunities to interact with them should be sought. Post is in almost daily contact with such groups by email but they would welcome face to face contact. We recommend several options: -- Ambassador would welcome opportunities, either in combination with senior department officials or just with Mission staff, to meet and converse with the U.S.-based Diaspora through a DVC. Such meetings would allow Post to brief the groups on USG efforts to alleviate the humanitarian suffering of the civilian population in the safe zone and our actions urging the government to offer credible political proposals for lasting peace. --The British have just launched a program, through International Alert and the Berghof Foundation, to engage both the Sinhalese and Tamil diaspora in the U.K. The project envisions: the establishment of a "clearinghouse" that would facilitate the sharing of information, resources and strategic knowledge on Diaspora activities in the U.K.; the development of policy papers that examine political activism of the Diaspora; the establishment of a Diaspora constituency for peacebuilding through Diaspora Dialogue Workshops; and the development of a policy framework for Diaspora engagement building on the lessons learned from similar Diaspora formations in the U.K. British High Commission officials in Colombo indicated to us that the idea for the program was in part an attempt to apply the positive role Irish-Americans played supporting and influencing the IRA to renounce violence to other conflicts. Post believes a similar U.S.-based project merits consideration. ¶7. (C) In particular, we should try to reinforce our and other efforts to try to bring pressure on the Tamil Tigers through their supporters in the Diaspora to abandon the armed conflict as a means of advancing their cause. For example, the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo is actively looking to engage influential members of the Diaspora who are in direct contact with the LTTE to assist in efforts to pressure the Tiger leadership to release the civilians under their control. Post is continuing to work closely with the Norwegian mission to assist their efforts with the Diaspora where we can. We would also make use of the DVC and other forums for interaction to suggest to Tamils in the U.S. that they, too, could potentially exert a more positive and productive influence on the course of events in Sri Lanka. BLAKE