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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 001172 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREF SL IN
SUBJECT: RECENT SRI LANKAN TAMIL REFUGEE ARRIVALS IN SOUTH 
INDIA REACH 400 
 
REF: A. CHENNAI 00103 (NOTAL) 
 
     ¶B. COLOMBO 00200 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: Although the promise of upcoming talks to 
strengthen the Cease-Fire Agreement has slowed the flow of 
Sri Lankan Tamil refugees coming to South India, there are 
now about 400 refugees at the Mandapam refugee transit camp 
in Tamil Nadu, near Palk Bay.  In recent meetings, UNHCR and 
OFFER, a  refugee NGO, predicted that the likelihood of 
additional mass arrivals is small.  Due to continuing 
violence in Sri Lanka, UNHCR has stopped all refugee 
repatriation until conditions on the island improve.  Tamil 
Nadu Rehabilitation Commissioner Ambedkar Rajkumar has been 
widely praised for his work to oversee 
conditions in the government camps and to make life as 
positive as possible for the approximately 50,000 total 
refugees, some of whom have been living there since the 
1980s.  One Delhi-based Sri Lanka analyst worried about the 
LTTE's history of sneaking in operatives disguised as 
refugees, and warned that all of the new wave of refugees are 
not necessarily "genuine," but Tamil Nadu intelligence 
officials are carefully reviewing the background of all new 
arrivals before releasing them to local camps.  End Summary. 
 
Refugees Likely to Slow to a Trickle 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In recent meetings, both V. Bharathy, Associate 
Repatriation Officer at UNHCR in Chennai, and S.C. 
Chandrahasan, a Sri Lankan Tamil and the leader of 
Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OFERR), a 
refugee NGO in Tamil Nadu, agreed that the number of refugees 
arriving on the Tamil Nadu coast has increased from 77 in 
mid-January (Ref A) to 300 by the end of January and 400 in 
mid-February.  With talks to strengthen the Cease-Fire 
Agreement (Ref B) scheduled for February 22-23, the 
likelihood of additional mass arrivals is small.  The current 
trickle is likely to continue but, unless conditions in Sri 
Lanka worsen, they do not anticipate a major influx of 
refugees. 
 
And UNHCR Repatriation Grinds to a Halt 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Due to the recent violence in Sri Lanka, UNHCR 
suspended all repatriation activities in early January 2006 
until the situation on the island improves.  UNHCR reported 
that before the recent influx of new refugees, there was 
great and growing interest among refugees to return to their 
homes in Sri Lanka.  During 2005, UNHCR processed about 6,000 
applications for repatriation from the approximately 50,000 
refugees in the government camps. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Due to the "fourth wave" of refugees, UNHCR 
believes that the GOI has temporarily abandoned previous 
plans to reduce rice and other subsidies they provide to the 
refugee community.  The GOI was discussing a possible 
reduction, which might have increased repatriation 
activities.  Camp conditions remain stable but less than 
ideal, with deteriorated housing the primary problem.  Both 
UNHCR and Chandrahasen were lavish in their praise for 
 
NEW DELHI 00001172  002 OF 002 
 
 
Government of Tamil Nadu Rehabilitation Commissioner Ambedkar 
Rajkumar, who is responsible for conditions in the camps. 
Both commented that he truly cares about the refugees and 
does his best within the limitations of the subsidies 
provided by the GOI to make life as positive as possible for 
the refugees. 
 
LTTE "Refugee" Concerns 
------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) M.R. Swamy Narayan, a Delhi-based Indo-Asian News 
Service journalist and Prabhakaran biographer, expressed 
concern that not all of the refugees are necessarily 
"genuine."  Since Rajiv Gandhi's LTTE assassin originally 
came from Sri Lanka disguised as a refugee,  Narayan raised 
the possibility that other LTTE members may be using the 
opportunity to sneak into India and, in some cases, might be 
receiving GOI refugee support, and in others, dissapearing. 
Aware of this possibility, state intelligence officials have 
established a 30 day "quarantine" period during which 
newly-arrived refugees are questioned by intelligence 
officials to determine their antecedents and connections. 
Only after this rigorous review are refugees permitted to 
join the general population of refugees at the residential 
camps in Tamil Naudu. 
 
¶6. (U) Consulate General Chennai contributed to this message. 
 
¶7.  (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: 
(http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/) 
MULFORD