UN PASCOE TAKES GSL AT ITS WORD ON IDP RETURNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000895 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM PTER EAID MOPS CE SUBJECT: UN PASCOE TAKES GSL AT ITS WORD ON IDP RETURNS COLOMBO 00000895 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) On September 18 UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe gave a briefing for the Colombo-based diplomatic community, reviewing his visit here over the past two days. He and locally-based UN senior staff visited a demining site in Mannar, an IDP camp and a rehabilitation site in Jaffna, and the Manik Farm IDP camp. In Colombo he met with various officials from the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) including the President and Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa. Pascoe told the assembled diplomats that he came to the country to find out why so little progress had been made on returns of IDPs since the end of the war. Now after two days of meetings and visits, he said he was more assured that the GSL had a coherent plan to return IDPs to their homes, and while still perhaps excessively concerned about security screening, the GSL was genuinely committed to returning 70-80% of the IDPs by January. ¶2. (C) Pascoe said that prior to his arrival here he believed demining was just the excuse the GSL was giving for not returning IDPs. After his meeting with Basil Rajapaksa and seeing the extensive mined areas in Mannar, he was more convinced that the GSL was focusing on demining and really did need all the help the international community could give them, including for the purchase of additional flail demining machines. On the possibilities of increased freedom of movement and releasing the IDPs to host families, Pascoe said their team had pressed hard on the government, offering food aid and other assistance for these sorts of steps, but that the GSL had excuses for why this would not work well. Pascoe said he believed better progress would be made if the international community continues pushing the GSL to return people home more quickly rather than trying to relocate them to host families or to press for freedom of movement. He said the GSL ruled out any plan which might result in the IDPs coming to Colombo. When A/DCM asked what the UN policy is of providing humanitarian support to close camps, Pascoe and UN Resident Representative Neil Buhne said the UN had not cut off food and humanitarian aid in any similar situation in many years, although they did oppose providing assistance to any new closed camps. COMMENT -------------- ¶3. (C) Pascoe gave the appearance of having taken the GSL, and Basil Rajapaksa in particular, more or less at their word on IDP returns issues. He appeared to accept the GSL's statement, also communicated yesterday by the President to the newly credentialed Ambassadors, that 70-80% of IDPs would in fact be returned by January 2010. While he believed the GSL's reasons for continuing to keep the IDPs in camps were security concerns prior to the election and legitimate demining concerns, he made no mention of the fact that the GSL did not come close to delivering on any of its IDP returns promises for the month of August, and is now quickly running out of time to meet any of its reconfigured goals for the month of September. Pascoe had a meeting immediately following the briefing, and A/DCM did not have any opportunity for a pull-aside with him to express Post's concerns about the GSL's ability to deliver. There was considerable concern expressed privately after the briefing among several of the assembled diplomats about Pascoe's conclusions regarding the real situation on the ground and the small likelihood that the GSL can meet its goal of 70-80% returns by January, regardless of whether it genuinely intends to or not. While Post hopes Pascoe is correct in his apparent trust, the slow pace of decongesting Manik Farm is COLOMBO 00000895 002.2 OF 002 not encouraging. BUTENIS