VZCZCXRO9043
OO RUEHBI RUEHLMC
DE RUEHLM #0927/01 1800403
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 290403Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6371
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 3220
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 5336
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0248
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 7231
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3872
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1150
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO 3945
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 1151
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3029
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 7819
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 5475
RUEHON/AMCONSUL TORONTO 0283
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2171

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 COLOMBO 000927 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND PRM 
STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID 
AID/W FOR ANE/SAA 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA FOR RTHAYER AND BDEEMER 
BANGKOK FOR OFDA TDOLAN 
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA WBERGER 
USMISSION GENEVA FOR KYLOH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PINS PREF PGOV EAID CE
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR AND OFDA DIRECTOR VISIT TO BATTICALOA, 
SRI LANKA 
 
SUBJECT:  OFDA Assessment of Sri Lanka IDP Situation 
 
REF:  (A) COLOMBO 0854, (B) COLOMBO 0390 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: OFDA recently completed a mission to Sri 
Lanka that was highlighted by the participation of OFDA 
Director, Ky Luu.  While in Sri Lanka Mr. Luu, along with 
the Ambassador and USAID Director, spent two days in 
Batticaloa District assessing the situation of IDPs and 
returnees.  The team found that overall there was 
improvement in the GSL return process.  Director Luu 
indicated that if the GSL honors its agreement to the OFDA 
conditions concerning NGO access to IDPs and returnees, 
additional OFDA resources would be provided to Sri Lanka 
through OFDA?s NGO, IO, and UN partners.  End Summary 
 
----------- 
Background 
----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Recently, with the cooperation of the Karuna 
forces, the Sri Lankan Army has driven LTTE forces out of 
Eastern districts with the exception of a relatively small 
but significant jungle area around Thopigala.  Estimates of 
the number of LTTE cadres still in the jungle range from 
150 to 500.  Those forces that remain still have the 
potential to interfere with the GSL?s return program 
through acts of violence and intimidation.  Nevertheless, 
the GSL is pressing ahead with the goal of returning and 
resettling all who have been displaced by fighting in the 
East.  UNHCR maintained that part of the earlier phase of 
the IDP?s return in Vakarai was done by force and coercion. 
 
--------------------- 
Humanitarian Dilemma 
--------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The lack of planning for resettlement, the forced 
returns, the denial of access by NGOs to resettled areas, 
and the environment of impunity in areas of the East have 
caused the international community to be caught in a 
dilemma between Principled Programming (the desire not to 
be co-opted into supporting unsafe returns) and the 
Humanitarian Imperative (the need to stay engaged with the 
GSL in order to serve and protect IDPs who are at risk). 
International organizations feel that they are not treated 
as partners by the GSL and are being used as pawns in the 
government?s military strategy.  They feel the GSL seems to 
willfully ignore its own humanitarian obligations and lacks 
respect for the mandates of the humanitarian actors in Sri 
Lanka.  Still, most feel that there is a gradual trend of 
improvement in GSL operations in support of resettlement 
and humanitarian needs.  This, balanced against the 
suffering that would be caused if they withdrew, is enough 
for now to keep the humanitarian community engaged in 
trying to work with the government to assist those in need. 
 
---------------------------- 
Protection through Presence 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) In Sri Lanka, humanitarian agencies are struggling 
mightily against great odds to pursue a strategy of 
?protection by presence,? based on the hope that the mere 
presence of international humanitarian workers on-location 
 
COLOMBO 00000927  002 OF 005 
 
 
can provide a degree of protection to IDPs and returnees. 
Given the atmosphere of impunity that exists in the East, 
NGO presence is not, in and of itself, sufficient to 
provide security. Because of this, some NGOs feel that 
their presence might give a false sense of security to 
returnees. 
 
------------------------------------ 
What Is ?Safe and Voluntary? Return? 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) There agreement between the GSL and the 
humanitarian community in Sri Lanka that IDPs should return 
home as soon as possible.  There is, however, a gap between 
the Government?s actions and the humanitarian norms 
supported by the international community.  Sri Lanka has 
the highest IDP population in Asia.  In its rush to lose 
this title and the international scorn that comes with it, 
the Government risks greater damage to its international 
standing through an ad hoc resettlement process.  The 
international community, including the U.S. Mission, is 
trying to help bring the GSL to an awareness that a return 
without planning for adequate services risks not only makes 
the resettlement process unsustainable but could create 
antipathies in the resettled Tamil communities that would 
create a environment of dissatisfaction, inadvertently 
creating enemies behind GSL front lines. (Comment: The 
Ambassador raised these issues at the last meeting of the 
Consultative Committee on Humanitarian Access (CCHA).  This 
could significantly contribute to the already improving 
trend of GSL?s resettlement program. End Comment) 
 
 
------------- 
OFDA Mission 
------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) With these issues in mind, OFDA recently completed 
a mission to Sri Lanka to assess the current situation and 
the requirements and conditions for additional OFDA 
support.  OFDA Regional Advisor Bill Berger made his third 
trip to Sri Lanka this year.  His twenty-one day mission 
began May 20.  He was joined for ten days beginning May 25 
by Jeff Drumtra, OFDA?s IDP Specialist.  The mission 
culminated with the visit of OFDA?s Director, Ky Luu, from 
June 2 -6.  While in Sri Lanka, Mr. Luu spent two days in 
the field along with the Ambassador and USAID Mission 
Director.  Mr. Luu held extensive meetings with NGOs, 
INGOs, IOs, and the UN agencies and visited IDPs and 
returnees in the Batticaloa District.  While in Batticaloa, 
the team visited Kurukalmadam IDP Transit Site, Eruvil 
Thodam Camp, Kovilkulam Camp, and returnee sites in SW 
Batticaloa District (Ref A). 
 
¶7. (SBU) In a press release following the trip, Mr. Luu 
noted improvements in the recent resettlement of IDPs and 
said that the United States would be willing to provide 
support to newly resettled communities within the context 
of a safe and dignified return.  He emphasized the need for 
humanitarian access, stating that ?the UN and international 
relief agencies must have timely access to repatriated 
villages in order to help assuage fears relayed by 
villagers that they are unaware of the conditions in 
villages where they are set to return, whether their former 
 
COLOMBO 00000927  003 OF 005 
 
 
homes are still standing, where they will have the means to 
support themselves, and whether they will have essential 
services?.  He added: ?I am encouraged that services for 
returnees have improved in the past few months.  We 
encourage the government to give timely access to NGOS and 
UN agencies, assisting them in providing essential services 
and sharing necessary information to returnees.? 
 
¶8. (SBU) Concerning additional OFDA assistance, he said if 
the GSL granted access to NGOs in a timely fashion, ?OFDA 
will look for opportunities through its partners to assist 
in raising the level of assistance in partnership with the 
government to augment services already being provided.? 
 
¶9. (SBU) He added: ?Residents in the Batticaloa area and 
representatives of international relief agencies expressed 
concern about the continued presence of paramilitary groups 
in and around Batticaloa and the disruptive effect on 
relief activities of extortion, harassment and intimidation 
by these groups.  The U.S. delegation underlined the 
importance of the Government of Sri Lanka stopping such 
illegal activities and asserting Government control over 
law and order in the East.? 
 
----------------------------- 
Meeting With NGOs in Colombo 
----------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Ky Luu held a meeting with over twenty NGOs in 
Colombo on June 6.  He briefed the partners on his visit to 
the field and said that additional OFDA resources could be 
provided to Sri Lanka but they would be conditional and 
based on acceptance by the GSL of certain basic principles 
required for effective utilization and impact of OFDA 
funds. 
 
-------------------- 
OFDA Letter to GSL 
-------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) On Luu?s instruction, a letter was drafted asking 
for GSL assurance that U.S.-funded NGOs would have access 
to and be allowed to operate in the areas of return and 
further that that access would be allowed in a timely 
fashion not to exceed seven days from the time IDPs were 
returned to their villages. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶12. (SBU) The Ambassador, accompanied by the OFDA RA, 
delivered the letter in a meeting with Mahinda 
Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human 
Rights.  Minister Samarasinghe said it would be appropriate 
to raise the issue in the a meeting of the Consultative 
Committee on Humanitarian Assistance (CCHA) which he and 
the Ambassador were attending the same day.  Minister 
Samarasinghe also invited the OFDA RA to join and observe 
the meeting. 
 
 
 
------------- 
 
COLOMBO 00000927  004 OF 005 
 
 
CCHA Meeting 
------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) At the CCHA meeting the Ambassador raised, among 
other items, the issues contained in the OFDA letter (Ref 
B).  Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, along with all 
the other GSL representatives at the meeting, agreed that 
U.S.-funded and other approved NGOs would be allowed to 
work in the areas of return and, further, that they would 
be allowed access at the same time that communities were 
being returned.  Embassy will take this matter up with the 
GSL.) 
 
¶14. (SBU) In the same meeting, the GSL agreed to field rapid 
assessment teams to identify any emergency humanitarian 
needs, such as health and nutrition, of IDPs and returnees. 
Further, the GSL agreed to develop a comprehensive plan for 
resettlement and agreed that technical consultants for this 
effort would be provided by UNDP.  (Comment:  The 
Ambassador and others at the meeting were able to clearly 
explain how these undertakings were essential for the 
Government to meet its own stated objectives for the 
return.  The commitments made by the Government on these 
key issues, if they translate into action on the ground, 
will make a critical contribution to easing the hardships 
suffered by displaced communities.  End comment) 
 
--------------------------- 
Follow-Up Meeting with NGOs 
--------------------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) With these assurances in hand, the USAID Mission 
Director and the OFDA RA held a meeting with NGOs at the 
USAID Mission to brief them on the commitments made by the 
GSL.  They also presented OFDA?s programming approach for 
resettlement assistance, which will focus on coordinated 
end-to-end assistance (within OFDA?s mandate) to targeted 
communities rather than specific sectoral assistance across 
communities. 
 
¶16. (SBU) While all of the NGOs present agreed that a 
community-based approach was the most effective way to 
ensure a durable return solution, there was a concern that, 
while feasible, this approach would face challenges since 
coordination at the field level is done on a sectoral 
basis.  The RA said he would follow up with the GSL on this 
issue. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Meeting with Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster 
Management and Human Rights, Peter Dias Amarasinghe 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶17. (SBU) The RA met with Secretary of the Ministry of 
Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mr. Peter Dias 
Amarasinghe, to discuss coordination issues for OFDA-funded 
programs.  Secretary Amarasinghe appreciated OFDA?s 
interest in the return process and said that his Ministry 
would help ensure that OFDA-funded programs were integrated 
and coordinated at the Colombo level as well as at the 
field level.  He promised to invite a representative of the 
USAID office to all meetings where coordination is taking 
place. 
 
 
COLOMBO 00000927  005 OF 005 
 
 
------------------------------- 
Conclusions and Recommendations 
------------------------------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) The OFDA team found that most IDPs wanted to 
return to their villages but wanted NGOs to be with them 
for purposes of security as much as for provision of 
services.  Most still felt that they had little choice but 
to return when told to do so by the GSL. 
 
¶19. (SBU) The return process witnessed by the team appeared 
to be orderly and people were pleased with the food and 
other items being given by the Government.  They were, 
however, concerned about the Government?s promise to 
provide additional food when the two-week supply being 
given them ran out.  They were also worried that GSL would 
not provide enough assistance until they could restore 
their own livelihoods, which for agriculturalists would be 
at least 6 months. 
 
¶20. (SBU) Overall, the team found that there was enough 
improvement in the GSL return process for OFDA to provide 
additional assistance if the Government honored its 
agreement to the OFDA conditions concerning NGO access to 
IDPs and returnees.  Additional OFDA assistance will be 
provided to Sri Lanka through OFDA?s NGO, IO, and UN 
partners. 
 
¶21. (SBU) OFDA would like to thank both the U.S. Mission for 
the unstinting support that OFDA continues to enjoy in Sri 
Lanka.  Their technical, logistical, and personal support 
has made a critical contribution to OFDA?s work in-country. 
OFDA would also like to applaud the leadership of 
Ambassador Blake in advocating for humanitarian issues with 
the Government of Sri Lanka as well as the work of Embassy 
and USAID Mission personnel in support of that leadership. 
 
Blake