SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT OPENS DIALOGUE WITH TAMIL DIASPORA

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000356 STATE FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT OPENS DIALOGUE WITH TAMIL DIASPORA ¶1. (U) Twenty Tamils from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, France, and Switzerland attended a two-day conference hosted by the Sri Lankan Government on March 29-30 2009. The initiative grew out of a meeting Sri Lankan Foreign Minster Rohitha Bogollagama held with Australian Tamils during a visit to Australia earlier this year. At the meeting, Australian Tamil Dr. Noel Nadesan offered to encourage several of his friends from other countries to visit Sri Lanka and engage in dialogue with the Government of Sri Lanka. ¶2. (U) During the conference, Minister Bogollagama briefed the group of Tamils on the situation in the North and East and on the Government's plans for rehabilitation and reconstruction. Secretary of Foreign Affairs Palitha Kohona, Minister of Science and Technology Tissa Vitharana and the Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Integration D.E.W. Gunasekera also addressed the group. ¶3. (SBU) The two sides reportedly talked about the politics, security, and the economy of the North and East. According to a media account, the participants were mostly critical of the war and want a political solution in the North and East. Foreign Minister Bogollogama told Ambassador that he plans to expand this dialogue by instructing High Commissioners in all countries with Tamil Diaspora to conduct a similar dialogue. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: This is the first time to our knowledge that the Government of Sri Lanka has engaged with the Tamil Diaspora and could be a useful first step, particularly if it leads to follow-on outreach efforts by Sri Lankan Embassies in key countries. Ambassador, who attended an evening event on the margins of the conference, noted that most participants appeared to be well-meaning, but generally pro-Government Tamils who came as individuals. The group did not appear to include representatives of mainstream Tamil groups that dominate the debate taking place in countries that host large number of Sri Lankan Tamils and other public spaces, such as the Internet. It will be important, if this dialogue is to have any significant impact on the resolution of Sri Lanka's long-standing conflict, that the government take steps to allay the distrust of the mainstream Tamil Diaspora groups. This will depend to a large extent on how the GSL handles the end of the semi-conventional conflict and its aftermath. BLAKE