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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000176 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2016 
TAGS: PTER PHUM PGOV CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  MORE PRO-LTTE AID WORKERS REPORTED 
MISSING IN THE EAST; QUESTIONS ABOUND 
 
REF: COLOMBO 172 
 
Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  One day after January 31 reports that five 
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) staff members had 
been abducted near an Army checkpoint (Reftel), TRO reported 
that another three TRO personnel have disappeared en route 
from Batticaloa to Kilinochchi. The Sri Lanka Monitoring 
Mission (SLMM) inquiry into the two incidents is continuing, 
but SLMM Spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir acknowledged that 
aspects of the two reports from TRO "don't sound 100 percent 
convincing."  A special team sent by the Inspector General of 
Police to Batticaloa to investigate the first report has so 
far been unable to interview any of the 10 people who 
reportedly witnessed the abductions.  A January 31 press 
statement by the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) in response to 
the first report placed greater emphasis on denying GSL 
involvement in the disappearances than on promising GSL 
efforts to investigate the incident--an unfortunate 
indication of an obstructionist attitude that can do little 
to defuse mounting tensions.  That said, the fact that so far 
none of the alleged eyewitnesses has come forward to tell 
police their version of events undermines, to some degree, 
the credibility of these reports.  The ongoing SLMM inquiry 
into these incidents should shed further light.  End summary. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
BERMUDA TRIANGLE NORTH OF BATTICALOA? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  One day after January 31 reports that five Tamil 
Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) staff members had been 
abducted near an Army checkpoint (Reftel), TRO reported that 
another three of its personnel were abducted near the same 
check-point as they were traveling from Batticaloa to 
Kilinochchi the night of January 29.  The missing three 
personnel, who include two TRO administrators and a driver 
attached to TRO's Kilinochchi office, had gone to Batticaloa 
January 28-29 to check on a Norwegian-funded preschool 
project there.  Two preschool teachers were reportedly in the 
van with the TRO staff when it was stopped; the two teachers, 
who are not TRO staff, were apparently released.  Sri Lanka 
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) personnel in Batticaloa were to 
interview the teachers on February 1; as of 5:00 p.m. local 
time SLMM Spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir told us she had no 
information that those interviews had taken place. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In a telephone conversation with poloff on February 
1, a TRO official in Colombo said that the remaining 10 
people who had been released in the incident reported January 
31 (reftel) included nine female TRO trainees and a driver 
who had been hired for the trip and was not a TRO staff 
member.  According to what those released had told TRO, the 
abductors initially blindfolded all 15 and took them to a 
jungle area, where they were held and interrogated for two 
hours.  All 15 were then reportedly driven back to their 
original location, whereupon the 10 were released.  One of 
those released reportedly said that she had seen a white van 
parked along the road about 10-15 meters past the Army 
checkpoint.  Once the TRO vehicle cleared the checkpoint, the 
van began following the TRO vehicle, stopping it about 100 
meters from the checkpoint, she said. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  In a February 1 conversation with Foreign 
Secretary H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, the Ambassador expressed 
 
SIPDIS 
concern about the reported abductions/disappearances and 
urged a speedy and transparent investigation.  Palihakkara 
 
COLOMBO 00000176  002 OF 003 
 
 
replied that the Inspector General of Police had already sent 
a special team to Batticaloa to look into the first report, 
but that Government efforts to investigate were being 
hampered by TRO's refusal to make the 10 alleged eyewitnesses 
available to the police.  When poloff raised this matter with 
the TRO official, noting the difficulty of having an in-depth 
investigation if access to eyewitnesses is not provided, he 
answered that some of the young women had apparently returned 
to homes in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE)-controlled territory and that his organization was 
attempting to "facilitate," with SLMM and ICRC cooperation, a 
meeting between the witnesses and the police.  He went on to 
dispute the veracity of parts of the Government's January 31 
press release (see para 5 below), asserting that the families 
of some of the TRO staff had attempted to file a complaint 
with Welikanda police and been turned away.  A complaint had 
been subsequently filed with the Batticaloa police. 
 
-------------------------- 
GOVERNMENT:  IT AIN'T US 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U)  On January 31 the Government Information Department 
released the following press statement regarding the alleged 
abductions of the five TRO personnel reported earlier that 
day (Reftel): 
 
Media reports have alleged that five members of the Tamil 
Rehabilitation Organization, an organization with links to 
the LTTE, have been abducted on the A11 road yesterday 
afternoon in close proximity to the Welikanda check-point. 
The government categorically denies any such incident taking 
place in close proximity to the Welikanda check-point. 
 
Furthermore, there are no records of Police entries or 
statements made to any police stations and Army detachments 
in the area regarding this incident.  The only record of such 
an incident is a telephone call made by Pulidevan (Note: 
head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat) of the LTTE in 
Kilinochchi to the SLMM this morning.  The Government 
confirms that no arrests or detentions of such persons have 
been made by the Police or security forces. 
 
Following media reports of the alleged incident, the 
Inspector-General of Police has directed a CID (Criminal 
Investigative Department) team to record a statement from the 
TRO office in Colombo.  The police will conduct a full 
investigation into the alleged incident to ascertain the true 
facts of the case. 
 
V.P.K. Anusha Palpita 
Director of Information 
Government Information Department 
 
End text of Government statement. 
 
----------------------------------- 
SLMM:  REPORTS ARE "A BIT STRANGE" 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) In a February 1 conversation with poloff, Sri Lanka 
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir said 
that SLMM's Batticaloa office was investigating both reports. 
 Although SLMM personnel had met with one or two of the young 
women reportedly released in reftel incident, the SLMM had 
obtained "no proper statements" from the alleged eyewitnesses 
yet.  Characterizing the twin reports of abductions near 
Welikanda as "a bit strange," Olafsdottir remarked that 
aspects of the stories as provided by TRO "don't sound 100 
percent convincing."  If the eight abductees had actually met 
with foul play, it would be very difficult to cover up, she 
mused.  Investigations are continuing, however, Olafsdottir 
 
COLOMBO 00000176  003 OF 003 
 
 
said, adding that she understood SLMM Batticaloa would be 
able to meet with the two preschool teachers soon.  When 
asked whether SLMM had been approached, as the TRO official 
had claimed to us, about "facilitating" a meeting between the 
eyewitnesses and GSL authorities, Olafsdottir said she was 
unaware of any such request from TRO.  "We have a lot of 
questions about what actually happened," she concluded, but 
are awaiting the report from the Batticaloa office before 
making any judgments. 
 
-------- 
COMMENT 
-------- 
 
 
¶7.  (C)  The reports of these two incidents from TRO are 
confusing, and the purported eyewitnesses' unwillingness so 
far to make a statement to GSL investigators is not providing 
any greater clarity. We expect that the SLMM report may shed 
some light on recent events.  In our conversations with TRO, 
we have underscored the importance of giving GSL authorities 
access to the eyewitnesses so that the investigation can 
proceed. Until that access is provided, it will be hard to 
fault the government for failure to investigate diligently. 
That said, the nitpicking, defensive tone of the GSL 
statement (denying the incident took place near an Army 
check-point, rather than expressing concern or promising a 
full investigation; denying a police report was filed in the 
area, instead of acknowledging a police report was filed in 
Batticaloa) is unhelpful and will only confirm Tamil 
suspicions of GSL obstructionism, an especially unwelcome 
development as we inch towards ceasefire talks in Geneva. 
LUNSTEAD