FOREIGN MINISTER RESPONDS TO WAR INCIDENTS REPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000994 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM PTER EAID MOPS CE SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER RESPONDS TO WAR INCIDENTS REPORT REF: A. SECSTATE 109032 ¶B. SECSTATE 109500 ¶C. COLOMBO 988 Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION VALERIE C. FOWLER. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) On October 28, Ambassador was called in by Foreign Minister Bogollagama to discuss the response of the Sri Lankan government (GSL) to the U.S. Report on Incidents in the Recent Conflict. The FM said the GSL was not satisfied with the report and they understood it reached no legal conclusions. But he said they were "mindful of our responsibility to our own people," and President Rajapaksa said he wanted to examine it. In that vein, the president had decided to form the group of eminent persons to formulate the GSL response to the report and to engage with us on it. He said the first phase of the GSL response was characterized by the government's initial public statement; now we had entered the phase of examining the substance of the report. Finally, Bogollagama claimed the MFA would have the "formal responsibility" of communicating with the U.S. on GSL thinking on the report and follow-up actions. He referred to colleagues in other ministries who had already begun discussing the report in public and essentially warned that we should not pay attention to them. Rather, we should consider our discussions on the report "classified" and should confine them to the MFA, State Department, and our embassies. "The less public discussion of this the better," he opined. ¶2. (C) COMMENT: Bogollagama's statements on the report were generally in line with the relatively moderate tone that we have heard from GSL officials since the report appeared last week. Acknowledgment that they have a responsibility to their own people in terms of the report is an important first step. We will watch closely to see whether they take the next crucial step of truly empowering the eminent persons group and giving it independence. As for Bogollagama's claim that his ministry alone had responsibility for dealing with the United States on the report, he has tried this consolidation act on other issues in the past. We will continue to engage on the report with any GSL entity that wishes to do so until President Rajapaksa asks us to deal only with Bogollagama. BUTENIS