SRI LANKA: PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSA'S VICTORY PARADE

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000594

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSA'S VICTORY PARADE
SPEECH CRITICAL OF WEST


1. (U) The Government of Sri Lanka's June 3 "National
Victory Parade" was an elaborately staged tribute to the
military forces' defeat of the LTTE. The event featured
thousands of servicemen parading on Galle Face Green,
displays of naval and air assets, and folkloric dancers, also
numbering in the thousands. Charge and DATT attended.


2. (U) President Rajapaksa opened his speech in Tamil, as he
did in Parliament two weeks ago, emphasizing that the war was
fought against the LTTE not against the Tamil people, that
Sri Lanka was the motherland of all the country's people, and
that all Sri Lankans should live as brothers and sisters.
The president indirectly criticized the previous government
for supporting the peace process with the LTTE. He said
massive redevelopment of the North, equal in effort to what
was required to defeat the LTTE, was now needed.


3. (U) The President criticized outside interference by
foreign nations and praised Sri Lanka's good relations with
Asian, African, and Arab countries. He said: "As a nation
we have to go very far to make our independence complete.
Terrorists were able to get the world to bring pressure on
us, a free and sovereign state. That was possible because
the terrorists had the capability to bring pressure on those
governments. Therefore, it is necessary to begin a new era
in foreign relations to safeguard my motherland. Having won
the freedom of our motherland, we must next establish our
freedom and sovereignty internationally. We have honest,
close, and friendly relations with our neighboring countries
in Asia. We have also been able to build genuine good
relations with the Arab and African countries. Those honest
friends have carried out the greatest responsibility toward
our freedom and sovereignty in this era. We value very much
the assistance we received from all those countries at this
moment." Full text of the speech has been e-mailed to the
desk.


4. (SBU) A glossy, 115-page, government-published book
entitled "Chapter Closed: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam" was distributed to attendees at the parade. It takes
numerous swipes at Norway, but does not completely spare the
U.S. "...the LTTE was successful in hoodwinking important
individuals in the international community. U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, showing remarkable disposition to
disingenuous comment, called for a ceasefire." The text
continues: "President Obama said that the situation in Sri
Lanka was of catastrophic proportion." Both of these
quotations are incorrect, and Charge will raise their
inaccuracies with the Foreign Ministry.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: Reaction to the speech has been mixed.
Parts of the speech had a somewhat more conciliatory tone
towards Sri Lankan Tamils than the President's "victory
speech" to Parliament two weeks previously, but there were no
details offered about exactly how a Tamil-Sinhalese
reconciliation would be achieved. Many Post contacts in the
Tamil community said they did not bother to listen to the
speech, expecting nothing new. Others contacts worried about
the anti-Western tone of some portions, wondering what if it
signaled a new direction of Sri Lankan foreign relations.
Others expressed hope that the rhetoric and nationalistic
tributes of the current period of "national celebration"
would soon be complete, so that post-conflict reconciliation
and rebuilding could begin.
MOORE