ASSISTANT SECRETARY BOUCHER MEETS WITH PALITHA

S E C R E T STATE 036734


E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM CE
SUBJECT: ASSISTANT SECRETARY BOUCHER MEETS WITH PALITHA
KOHONA

Classified By: Michael Owen for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: On April 10, Assistant Secretary for
South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher met
with Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona
regarding the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.
Boucher told Kohona that the Sri Lankan Army must halt
the continued shelling of the safe zone and emphasized
the need to accept a UN Special Representative,
preferably during the April 13-14 humanitarian pause.
A/S Boucher urged Kohona to issue the Sri Lankan visas
which have been denied to workers from the
International Committee for the Red Cross. Boucher
informed Kohona that the US government would have to
take into consideration the conduct of the war in
determining whether we could support the proposed
International Monetary Fund loan to Sri Lanka. End
Summary.


2. (C) Boucher began the meeting by telling Kohona that
we were concerned about the civilians trapped in the
government-designated "safe zone", that we were meeting
with the Tamil diaspora in the US, that we have been in
contact with the UN after their recent visits, and that
we issued a statement after a Co-Chairs phone call on
April 9. Kohona responded, saying that the Sri Lankan
government was concerned about all the interational
attention to the situation that was wrongly being
directed at the government and that many &good people8
(he cited Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International)
believed it was the Sri Lankan government,s "duty to
save hostages." He said he expected the conflict to
"resolve itself soon." When pushed to clarify, he said
he meant that the civilians would escape the safe zone
(intead of through military action). He offered three
possible scenarios to end the conflict: a) civilians
would break free and the government would move in, b)
the Tamil Tigers would put up one last offensive,
forcing the civilians to die with them, or c) the
international community would succeed in putting
sufficient pressure on the Tamil Tigers that they would
surrender.

Stop the Shelling
--------------


3. (S) Boucher told Kohona that the Sri Lankan
government must stop shelling into the safe zone. When
Kohona denied that shelling was occurring, Boucher
showed Kohona a US government satellite image from the
"safe zone" of three large craters caused by heavy
weapons. Boucher noted that the image was taken
between March 15-23, after Sri Lankan President
Rajapaksa assured Secretary Clinton in a March 13 phone
conversation that the government was not shelling into
the "safe zone." Kohona said he was "suspicious" of
the purported location of the image and wrote down the
geo-coordinates to verify. (Note: The SECRET
SENSITIVE For Display Onlyimage was shown, and not
given, to Kohona.) Boucher reemphasized that we were
watching the situation closely.

Special Envoy By Any Other Name
-------------- --------------


4. (C) At a dinner on April 9, Kohona told Boucher the
Sri Lankan government would be reluctant to accept a
"Special Envoy" and that the international community
should find another name to make the concept more
palatable to the government. At the April 10 meeting,
Boucher reiterated the need for someone acceptable to
both sides to enter the conflict zone during a
humanitarian pause. He stated that the Envoy,s mandate
would be securing the release of civilians and finding
a way for the Tigers to lay down arms. Kohona
suggested that Australian diplomat Michael Smith could
fill this role. Boucher asked for Kohona,s assistance
in convincing the Sri Lankan leadership to accept such
a person on an urgent basis, indicating that an Envoy
could be critical during any humanitarian pause.

Internally Displaced Persons
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Boucher touched on the plight of internally
displaced persons and emphasized the need to resettle
them quickly. Kohona offered that the government had
no intention of keeping people in camps long-term and
would need international post-conflict assistance to
resettle displaced persons. Boucher said that the US
and other countries were willing to help, but that the
Sri Lankan government would be better served if they
devise a clear plan for resettlement, so donors could
identify needs and support them. He continued to press
Kohona to give international organizations more and
better access to camps. Acting Director for Sri Lanka
Diane Kelly noted that international workers present in
reception centers should be permitted to speak with
displaced persons as they are processed by the
government.


6. (C) Boucher raised the issue of outstanding visas
for International Committee of the Red Cross workers,
urging that visas be issued quickly. Kohona rejected
this stating the government,s view that these workers
were not needed now that the tsunami relief efforts had
ended; they were taking jobs away from Sri Lankan
doctors. Boucher and Kelly reiterated that Red Cross
workers performed a number of functions, not just
medical assistance, and their presence was important.

International Monetary Fund
--------------


7. (C) At the April 9 dinner, Boucher told Kohona that
the U.S. government did not want to finance military
operations and would be concerned about the impact
continued fighting would have on Sri Lanka's economic
prospects and its success in completing an
International Monetary Fund program. Kohona pushed
back hard saying that the government was determined to
finish the war, they had fought the war without the
loan, and they would continue even without the loan.
At the April 10 meeting, Boucher reinforced that the
the loan will get very careful scrutiny from the U.S.
government and there may be more questions on the loan
in light of the current circumstances. Kohona noted
that funds from the loan would be used to shore up
reserves allowing Sri Lanka to repay its debts, many of
which are owed, he claimed, to "the West." He added
quickly that he was not saying that Sri Lanka would
default on its debts to Western banks.


Political Solution
--------------


8. (C) Turning to political matters, Boucher suggested
the Sri Lankan government start a genuine dialogue with
Tamils and the Tamil diaspora. Kohona said that the
government held a meeting with self-selected diaspora
members from several countries and plans to hold future
events. He said that many Tamils feels the Tamil
National Alliance are not their true representatives
and are merely puppets of the Tamil Tigers. Boucher
noted that we had met with many members of the diaspora
who felt the same way, but the government needed to
find a way to involve Tamils in the political process.

Comment
--------------


9. (C) Kohona did not deviate from the Sri Lankan
government script on any issues we raised with him.
End Comment.


CLINTON