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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0545
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000341 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/INS, USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2017 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PTER PGOV MOPS KHDP CE
SUBJECT: CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS IN BATTICALOA DECRY HUMAN 
RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN SITUATION 
 
REF: COLOMBO 328 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. for reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Ambassador participated in a visit to 
Batticaloa led by Minister for Disaster Management and Human 
Rights Samarasinghe.  Although the visit was disrupted by a 
mortar attack as the delegation arrived in Batticaloa 
(reftel), the delegation met with civil society leaders.  The 
Ambassador told the group that after Jaffna, the Co-Chair and 
other Ambassadors considered the situation in Batticaloa to 
be the most grave in the country because of the almost 80,000 
IDPs in the vicinity and the growing number of killings, 
abductions and human rights abuses by the Karuna group in 
particular. The Bishop of Batticaloa and other religious 
leaders decried the killings and abductions of innocent 
people and the intimidation by Karuna forces, which local 
security forces claimed they were powerless to stop. 
Samarasinghe assured him a draft witness protection law had 
been drafted and was now being discussed with civil society. 
An unidentified woman told the Minister that many of the IDPs 
from Vakarai and elsewhere are afraid to go back.  The 
Minister assured her no forced resettlement would take place. 
 The Bishop stated that without a witness protection program 
no one would come forward because everyone is afraid. 
Comment: The Ambassador, other diplomats and UN agency heads 
will remain closely engaged to ensure systematic follow-up. 
Stopping the abuses and illegal activities of the Karuna 
group will be a harder task and will require direct 
intervention by President Rajapaksa. End Summary. 
 
 
¶2.  (C) The delegation was led by Minister Samarasinghe and 
included the Ambassadors of the United States, Japan, Italy, 
France and Germany as well as the head of UN agencies 
Frederick Lyons and several other UN agencies.  Half the 
delegation never made it to Batticaloa because the helicopter 
landing area came under shelling (reftel) obliging the 
helicopter to take off with half of the delegation still in 
the helicopter.  While the group was waiting in the 
Batticaloa police station for the military to determine how 
to get the delegation back to Colombo, the delegation met 
with civil society leaders who had come for a previously 
planned meeting. 
 
Batticaloa to Be New Focus for Humanitarian Coordination 
Meeting in Colombo 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Samarasinghe opened the meeting by explaining that 
the purpose of the visit was to hear from local authorities, 
civil society and the people of Batticaloa about conditions 
on the ground.  He noted that he and the US Ambassador formed 
part of a larger group called the Coordination Committee on 
Humanitarian Affairs (CCHA) that meets on a bi-weekly basis 
with the Secretary of Defense to discuss how to improve the 
humanitarian situation around the country.  Already 
considerable progress has been made in Jaffna so the minister 
told the group that improving the situation in Batticaloa 
would become a major new focus for the CCHA in Colombo. 
 
¶4.  (C) The Minister invited Ambassador to speak on behalf of 
the other diplomats.  Ambassador thanked Samarasinghe for 
leading the delegation and for his work within the CCHA to 
improve the humanitarian situation for the 500,000 IDPs and 
others in Sri Lanka that have been affected by the conflict. 
The Ambassador told the group that after Jaffna, the Co-Chair 
and other Ambassadors considered the situation in Batticaloa 
 
COLOMBO 00000341  002 OF 003 
 
 
to be the most grave in the country because of the almost 
80,000 IDPs in the vicinity and the growing number of 
killings, abductions and human rights abuses.  The Co-Chairs 
considered the voluntary repatriation of IDPs to their 
villages to preserve the ethnic balance of the area a very 
high priority.  The Ambassador underlined for both civil 
society leaders and the military commander and government 
agent who were present that the US and other Co-Chairs were 
particularly concerned about the increasingly brazen and 
illegal activities of the Karuna group in Batticaloa.  He 
urged the Government of Sri Lanka to reassert its own control 
over law and order in Batticaloa and other parts of the east 
and stated that the abductions, raids on NGO warehouses and 
other illegal activities by Karuna must be stopped. 
 
Bishop:  Batti Needs Peace and Justice 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) The Bishop of Batticaloa as president of the local 
Interfaith Organization for Peace spoke first on behalf of 
the religious leaders.  He expressed his sorrow and shame for 
the attack that had occurred against the delegation upon 
arrival noting that Batticaloa remained both a battle and 
refugee zone.  He poignantly described the difficulties that 
many of the IDPs had suffered just getting to Batticaloa 
following the fighting in Vakarai and elsewhere.  Many had 
perished in the jungles.  Many others remain weak.  He urged 
the military commander to remove weapons from civilian areas 
to reduce the risk of civilian casualties from LTTE 
retaliatory shelling.  He also stated that the killings and 
abductions of innocent civilians must be stopped and that 
Batticaloa urgently needed peace and justice. 
 
Security Forces Helpless to Stop Karuna 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Father Joseph Mary, a Jesuit priest, affirmed his 
support for the Bishop's words and added his own concern 
about the numerous checkpoints every 10 kilometers that all 
bus travelers had to suffer through.  At each checkpoint the 
military required all passengers to disembark, and have their 
papers and belongings thoroughly checked, making travel 
extremely difficult.  He further lamented that buses were 
frequently diverted to smaller roads in very poor condition 
making travel for pregnant women and children particularly 
onerous.  He thanked the Ambassador for his message about the 
need to rein in Karuna and confirmed that the day before he 
had seen a large group of Karuna cadres walking openly with 
guns in cleared areas near the school and the convent.  He 
complained that when he protested the local security forces, 
the forces only shrugged their shoulders and claimed they 
were helpless to do anything about Karuna because of higher 
level support for his activities.  Looking at the military 
commander Father Joseph told him "I am prepared to die.  The 
police are helpful to me, but the people of Batticaloa are 
afraid." 
 
¶7.  (C) An unidentified woman stood up and told the Minister 
that many of the IDPs from Vakarai and elsewhere are afraid 
to go back.  Samarasinghe assured her that there would be no 
forced resettlement.  The woman stated that school boys and 
school girls had left their villages and were in hiding with 
relatives elsewhere to avoid forced recruitment by Karuna. 
Samarasinghe expressed sympathy and told her such incidents 
needed to be reported.  The woman responded that people were 
afraid to file reports because they could see that the Karuna 
cadres were moving about freely and enjoyed the open support 
of the security forces. 
 
 
COLOMBO 00000341  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶8.  (C) The Bishop interjected that without a witness 
protection program no one would come forward because everyone 
is afraid.  He said, for example, that several young men who 
knew about the killings of the 17 Action Contre le Faim 
workers in Muttur had been threatened by security forces not 
to give evidence.  Samarasinghe noted that the government had 
drafted witness protection legislation that was now being 
discussed with NGOs and other experts in Colombo.  He hoped 
the legislation could be tabled in Parliament within a month 
or two. 
 
¶9.  (C) A Buddhist monk stood up to state that he had lived 
in Batticaloa for eight years and had been impressed with the 
peaceful coexistence of the Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese 
communities.  He told the minister the government must take a 
stand against both the LTTE and Karuna to stop child 
recruitment and "the gun culture." 
 
¶10.  (C) Samarasinghe asked the government agent to brief 
everyone on his administration's efforts to address some of 
the problems.  The GA noted that Batticaloa currently 
supports 79,191 IDPs, representing more than 21,000 families. 
 He said approximately 10,000 IDPs were living in 49 "welfare 
centers;" all the others were living with relatives and 
friends.  He acknowledged that while IDPs were receiving 
sufficient rice and dhal there was a significant protein 
shortage.  He thanked UNICEF for its efforts to provide 
sanitation.  He then described the government's efforts to 
rebuild the roads, electricity and other infrastructure in 
and around Vakarai to facilitate IDP returns.  He reaffirmed 
the Minister's assurance that no families would be forcibly 
resettled.  He said the government planned to take village 
leaders from the IDP camps to their villages prior to 
resettlement to show them the conditions on the ground and 
reassure them.  The Ambassador remarked that demining needed 
to occur as quickly as possible, which the US was assisting, 
and urged the GA and the military to work with UN agencies 
and NGOs to help restore farming and fishing livelihoods as 
quickly as possible.  Since there would inevitably be a lag 
before such activities could generate income, the GA also 
needed to be prepared to provide food and medical services 
for at least that interim period.  The GA agreed. 
 
¶11.  (C) With respect to demining, the military commander 
explained that his forces were aiming to complete demining by 
March 6 of nine villages in and around Vakarai that have the 
majority of the IDP populations from that area.  He also said 
that 10 of 11 schools had been rehabilitated and medical 
services restored. 
 
¶12.  (C) COMMENT:  Despite the truncated nature of the visit 
because of the mortar attack, the delegation was nonetheless 
pleased to convey to civil society and the local security 
forces the international community's concern about the 
serious human rights and humanitarian situation in Batticaloa 
and the priority the government must attach to halting the 
abuses and illegal activities of the Karuna group. 
Samarasinghe's staff will now prepare a report and 
recommendations for how to address the issues the delegation 
identified.  The Ambassador, other diplomats and UN agency 
heads will remain closely engaged to ensure systematic 
follow-up.  Stopping the abuses and illegal activities of the 
Karuna group will be a harder task and will require direct 
intervention by President Rajapaksa.  The mission recommends 
that as Washington policy makers send letters and call the 
President and other senior leaders, this must be one of our 
key messages. 
BLAKE