From: <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/article3954303.ece">Aftenposten</a><br>
Date: 8.5.2003

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000773
SIPDIS
ISLAMABAD PLS PASS TO SA A/S ROCCA
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, S/CT, INR/NESA NSC FOR E. MILLARD
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL E.O. 12958: 
DECL: 05-08-13 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINR, EAID, CE, NO, JA, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: Tigers meet Japanese envoy and are noncommittal about
returning to talks 
Refs: (A) OpsCenter-Colombo 05/08/03 telecon
- (B) FBIS Reston Va DTG 070711z May 03
- (C) Colombo 764, and previous
(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of Mission. Reasons 1.5 (b, d)

1. (C)
SUMMARY: Japanese envoy Akashi met May 7 with Tiger leader
Prabhakaran and pressed the LTTE to return to the peace
talks. Akashi also gave the Tigers one week to make a final
decision on whether they will attend the June donors
conference in Tokyo. Prabhakaran was noncommittal, although he
indicated the Tigers would be cooperative if the GSL met their
long-standing demands re assistance and security. At this
point, it´s not clear what the Tigers will do, but they seem
to have climbed down somewhat from their previous hard-line
positioning.  END SUMMARY

2. (U)
MEETING PRABHAKARAN: A Japanese government delegation led by
Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi met with Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. Prabhakaran on May 7. The meeting
took place in the LTTE-controlled town of Kilinochchi in
northern Sri Lanka. A large Japanese team, which included
Ambassador to Sri Lanka Seiichiro Otsuka, participated in the
meeting.  Visiting London-based LTTE spokesman Anton
Balasingham, political chief S.P. Thamilchelvam, and
J. Maheswaran, an Australia-based LTTE official, also attended
the meeting.

3. (C)
JAPANESE READOUT: Ambassador Otsuka provided Ambassador Wills
a readout of the Kilinochchi talks early May 8. Otsuka said
the two-hour meeting was "very cordial and not at all
confrontational." In terms of substance, he noted that while
it was "good", it was not "conclusive" in that the LTTE had
not agreed to return to the peace talks and to attend the June
donors conference in Tokyo. Otsuka noted that Akashi had
pressed these issues twice and received essentially
noncommittal responses both times. Akashi had also pressed
Prabhakaran on other issues, such as human rights. In
addition, he had urged the Tigers to return to the
Sub-Committee for Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation
Needs in the North and East (SIHRN). (Note: The Tigers pulled
out of this joint committee late last month.)

4. (C)
Otsuka said Prabhakaran, who rarely meets with foreigners,
listened intently to all of Akashi´s points. In his comments,
Prabhakaran stressed that progress had not been made in the
delivery of humanitarian and developmental assistance because
the SIHRN committee was "not efficient." He also complained
that the North/East Reconstruction Fund (NERF) was not yet
operating and funding projects.  Prabhakaran went on to touch
on long-standing LTTE concerns about Tamil displaced persons
related to the issue of the military presence in Jaffna
District (see more below in Para 8). Despite his noncommittal
reaction, Prabhakaran did not fully discount the possibility
that the Tigers would eventually come back to the talks and
decide to attend the Tokyo meeting. He did, however, make very
clear that there had to be progress on issues of Tiger concern
before the group would do so. Akashi emphasized that the
Tigers had one week to decide whether or not they were coming
to Tokyo.

5. (C)
Sharing a small vignette, Otsuka related that the Japanese
side had brought along its own interpreter to the
meeting. (Note: Most visitors in meetings with the LTTE rely
on the group´s interpreter who is named "George." George has
often been accused of spinning his translations.) After the
meeting, the GoJ interpreter told Otsuka that at one point
Balasingham had said, "We suspended the peace talks to get
concessions." (Note: This statement tends to highlight the
tactical nature of the LTTE´s recent moves.) In another
vignette, Otsuka commented that Prabhakaran had told him
during the more social atmosphere of the lunch following the
meeting that his son, Charles Anthony, was studying martial
arts. A lively discussion on the matter ensued when Otsuka
noted that he had a brown belt in karate.  (Note: Charles
Anthony, who is believed to be in London, is approximately 17
years old. Prabhakaran is believed to have another son and one
daughter with him at his key base in Mullaitivu in northeast
Sri Lanka.)

6. (U)
(((Note: In other peace process news: early May 8 the pro-LTTE
website "TamilNet" posted an article on the Akashi-Prabhakaran
meeting complete with several photos. The article was
relatively upbeat and its substance largely jibed with
Otsuka´s readout. The article noted that at the close of the
meeting Prabhakaran had given Akashi a "Tamil Eelam" map and
insignia.)))

7. (SBU) 
(((Note: Following up Deputy Foreign Minister Helgesen´s
recent visit and the latest efforts by the Japanese, Norwegian
Special Envoy Erik Solheim is slated to meet Balasingham in
the Wanni on May 8.  Solheim´s brief is believed to be
identical to Helgesen´s and Akashi´s, i.e., try to convince
the Tigers to come back to the talks and attend the June
donors conference.)))

8. (C)
(((Note: In another peace process development, Defense
Minister Marapana announced May 7 that the GSL was planning a
large-scale reorganization of its forces in Jaffna
District. The idea behind the reorganization would be to
amalgamate forces in Jaffna, and, thus, permit more civilian
land use. The plan is clearly meant to appease the Tigers, who
have long claimed that the military´s bases in Jaffna -
especially the so-called "high security zones" there - are
too large. See DATT´s Septel re the GSL proposal and the
military´s reaction to it.)))

9. (C)
COMMENT: The Norwegians and the Japanese have certainly been
giving it their all in working to convince the Tigers to
return to the negotiating track. There seems to be some
movement by the Tigers in that they appear to have climbed
down somewhat from their previous hard-line positioning. The
group, for example, has re-opened lines of communication and
adopted a less shrill tone. In fact, the U.S. can take some
credit for this shift, as the Tigers´ move toward a more
moderate posture dates from their response to the
U.S. statement on their pullout from the talks. (Note: In
other potentially positive news, we understand that FCO
officials had a good give-and-take with Balasingham on May 4
just before he came to Sri Lanka. In their previous attempt to
meet with him, Balasingham had rudely told them he did not
want to talk.) All that said, it´s still not clear what the
Tigers plan to do and whether they will be back in the
ballgame soon. END COMMENT.

10. (U) Minimize considered.

WILLS
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