Monday, 13 July 2009, 10:33
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000695
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB
EO 12958 DECL: 06/25/2019
TAGS PGOV, PREL, PREF, PHUM, PTER, EAID, MOPS, CE
SUBJECT: DOCTORS RECANT EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF CIVILIAN
CASUALTIES
REF: A. COLOMBO 0435 B. COLOMBO 0448 C. COLOMBO 0454 D.
COLOMBO 0554
COLOMBO 00000695 001.2 OF 002
Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES JAMES R. MOORE. REASONS: 1.4
(B, D)

¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The five doctors who worked inside the
final conflict zone (the government-declared "no-fire zone")
and who released accounts of the situation and the numbers of
killed and wounded civilians there gave a press conference
press conference on July 8. The doctors said they were
"pressured" by the LTTE to release the casualty figures
during the fighting, and that in reality the number of killed
and wounded civilians was much lower. Many international
observers doubt the veracity of this "confession", and
casualty figures from other sources are inconsistent with the
numbers given by the doctors at the press conference. Some
have said the doctors were told they must make this sort of
statement or be prosecuted for assisting the LTTE. It is not
known if they will in fact be released soon, but it appears
they have been treated relatively well while in detention.
There is some concern for their safety if the doctors are in
fact released. END SUMMARY.

2. (SBU) The five doctors who
served in the conflict zone during the final weeks and months
of the war, and who provided eyewitness accounts of the
situation there during the final months of the conflict
between the GSL and the LTTE publicly retracted their
previous statements during a press conference arranged by the
Government on July 8. The doctors announced that they were
"pressured" by the LTTE to make the original statements. The
five were taken into custody by the Army at the end of the
conflict in May, but are now in CID (police) custody. They
said they have been treated well and have been given medical
attention. They noted in their statements that during the
conflict they had exaggerated the number of killed and
injured and also stated that there had never been a shortage
of food in the zone. The doctors reported that in reality
many civilians were killed trying to escape the LTTE and that
the LTTE had commandeered medical supplies brought into the
zone for civilians for the wounded LTTE cadres. They said
LTTE officials would hand them lists of figures to cite, and
then give them phone numbers of sympathetic journalists to
contact with the reports. The doctors stated that the actual
number of civilian deaths from January until the end of the
conflict in mid-May was between 600 and 650, with 1,200
injured during that same time period.

¶3. (S) International media and NGOs are skeptical of the
doctors' statements at the news conference. Credible local
NGO sources have said the families were told the doctors may
be released following such confessions and they may have had
to videotape individual confessions for the president. While
it is difficult to pin down solid numbers on anything that
happened in the last months of the conflict, other relatively
verifiable sources of information are clearly at odds with
these figures. The ICRC reported on May 12 that since
mid-February it had evacuated nearly 14,000 sick or wounded
civilians and their relatives. Unofficial UN estimates for
Tamil civilian deaths over roughly the same January to
mid-May time period are more than ten times as high, between
7,000 and 8,000. Those UN estimates did not rigorously seek
to exclude deaths of possible LTTE conscripts, but it is
unlikely that a ten-fold increase in figures over what the
doctors stated this week would be due solely to deaths of
LTTE cadres mixed in with the civilian population.

4. (S) Of
particular concern is what will happen to the doctors if in
fact they are released soon. In a meeting with the Ambassador
on May 20, the Defense Secretary indicated that it would
probably not be safe to free the doctors until

COLOMBO 00000695 002.3 OF 002

after passions had cooled. More recently a senior contact in
the CID was demoted because he had worked to improve the
detention conditions of the doctors and apparently had
expressed too strong of a desire to improve their welfare.

5. (C) COMMENT: The dead and wounded figures given by the
doctors at the July 8 press conference would appear to
underestimate the true number of casualties during the final
months of conflict in the no-fire zone. The GSL appears to be
continuing its efforts to downplay the extent of civilian
suffering during the last weeks and days of the war. However,
a willingness to arrange for the doctors to be released
following this confession could signal an effort by the GSL
to appease international criticism. If the doctors are
released, it will be critical for the GSL to take meaningful
action to ensure that the doctors are not then "disappeared"
in order to prevent them from making any modifications to
this press statement. MOORE