O 181224Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9603
INFO AMEMBASSY ATHENS 
AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 
AMEMBASSY DHAKA 
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 
AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 
AMEMBASSY LONDON 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 
AMEMBASSY OSLO 
AMEMBASSY TOKYO 
AMCONSUL CHENNAI 
AMCONSUL MUMBAI 
AMCONSUL TORONTO 
USEU BRUSSELS
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 
USMISSION GENEVA 
HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
DIA WASHINGTON DC
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
SECDEF WASHDC
CDRUSARPAC FT SHAFTER HI//APCW/APOP//
CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//J3/J332/J52//

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000304 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SCA (BOUCHER, CAMP), SCA/INS AND PRM 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID 
AID/W FOR ANE/SCA, DCHA/FFP (DWORKEN, KSHEIN) 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA (MORRISP, ACONVERY, RTHAYER, RKERR) 
ATHENS FOR PCARTER 
BANGKOK FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA (WBERGER) 
KATHMANDU FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA AND POL (SBERRY) 
GENEVA FOR RMA (NKYLOH, NHILGERT, MPITOTTI) 
USUN NEW YORK FOR ECOSOC (D MERCADO) 
SECDEF FOR OSD - POLICY 
PACOM ALSO FOR J-5 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MOPS PREF PHUM PGOV PREL ASEC CE
SUBJECT: Northern Sri Lanka SitRep 34 
 
Ref:  A)  Colombo 299  B)  Colombo 294  C) Colombo 287  D) Colombo 
282  E) Colombo 279  F) Colombo 277  G) Colombo 265  H) Colombo 258 
I) Colombo 250  J) Colombo 248  K) Colombo 247 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Ambassador pressed Foreign Minister to allow in 
medical supplies and to stop shelling near civilian concentrations. 
ICRC reports that some medicine "may" be loaded onto a passenger 
ferry departing this evening (March 18) from Trincomalee for the 
safe zone.  Unconfirmed reports were received that some trapped 
civilians have retaliated against LTTE.  UN Secretary General Ban Ki 
Moon contacted Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on March 17 to 
express concern about civilians trapped in the conflict area.   End 
Summary. 
 
Ambassador Raises Concerns on Shelling, Medicine 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2.   (SBU) On March 18, Ambassador met with Foreign Minister 
Bogollagama to raise reports of continued Sri Lankan army shelling 
in the safe zone and the urgent need for medical supplies to reach 
the trapped civilians in Mullaitivu, underscoring that no medicines 
of any kind had been sent in six weeks.  Bogollagama echoed 
assurances given previously to the Ambassador by the Defense 
Secretary that the military would continue to ensure protection of 
civilians in the safe zone. (A full readout of the meeting will be 
sent septel.) 
 
Civilians Rising Up? 
------------------- 
 
¶3.   (SBU) Embassy received unconfirmed reports on March 17-18 of 
instances of civilian retaliation against LTTE cadres in the "safe 
zone".  Reportedly, when food was offloaded from a boat on March 17, 
LTTE cadres tried to forcibly recruit three civilians assisting the 
offloading.  A group of civilians gathered and began attacking the 
cadres; a child was reportedly shot. ICTC staff did not witness this 
alleged incident and could not confirm that it happened.  Contacts 
reported possible "riots" against the LTTE in the zone, including 
cars set alight and cadres killed.  ICRC was also unable to confirm 
these reports. 
 
Military May "Push Through" 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Post has heard reports that army does not plan to hold 
back once the LTTE is pushed back to the borders of the safe zone. 
This strategy would contradict comments to Ambassador by Defense 
Secretary and Foreign Minister (repeated on March 18) that the army 
will go into "passive mode" once the forward defense line reaches 
the safe zone, to allow civilians to flee.  Ambassador impressed 
upon the Foreign Minister the need for the GSL to exercise patience 
to allow diplomacy to work.  A GSL attack on the safe zone would 
result in thousands of civilian casualties, and would potentially 
subject the GSL to war crimes charges.  The Foreign Minister 
reassured Ambassador that the GSL has no intention to do so.  An 
Embassy contact with ties to the military informs that the army will 
push through and pursue the enemy within, rather than allow the LTTE 
to regroup.  This contact also relayed a report that Tamil civilians 
had burned an LTTE police station in the conflict area. 
 
UN SYG Raises Concerns 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon contacted Sri Lankan 
President Mahinda Rajapaksa by phone on March 17 to express concern 
about civilians trapped by the conflict.  A UN Spokesperson 
confirmed the conversation, and said Rajapaksa replied that the 
Government would cooperate with the UN.  According to UN Resident 
Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator Neil Buhne, UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has met with the Permanent 
Representative to the UN Dayan Jayatilleke following Pillay's claims 
of possible war crimes.  Pillay has requested approval for a human 
rights fact-finding mission in Sri Lanka. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman has also issued a 
statement regarding conditions in Sri Lanka, noting, "Children and 
their families caught in the conflict zone are at risk of dying from 
disease and malnutrition... Regular, safe access for humanitarian 
agencies is urgently required, so that life-saving supplies can be 
provided, and civilians must be allowed to move to safe areas where 
essential humanitarian support is more readily available."  The 
statement adds to the growing number of senior UN representatives 
expressing concern about conditions in Sri Lanka. 
 
Government Bluffs on Medical Supplies 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.   (SBU) In a March 18 press briefing, the Government claimed to 
be providing enough food and medical supplies to support the trapped 
civilians.  Sri Lankan press reported that Minister of Health Care 
and Nutrition Nimal Siripala de Silva vowed that the Government 
continues to send enough medical and essential food supplies to the 
IDPs as well as civilian trapped under the LTTE control.  The Sri 
Lankan Daily News quotes de Silva as saying that despite Government 
belief that LTTE confiscates the supplies for its own cadres, "we 
won't stop sending medical and food supplies".  (Comment: Embassy 
has confirmed that the Government has provided no medical supplies 
into the "safe zone" since a shipment on February 20; this one 
shipment included bandages and some other basic supplies, but did 
not include any anesthesia or other medicine, and ran out within two 
days. ICRC reports that the last supply of medicine was on February 
6.)  Acting ICRC Head of Delegation told DCM late today (March 18) 
that an ICRC-flagged passenger ferry departing this evening from 
Trincomalee "may" carry some medicine to the safe zone. ICRC will be 
able to confirm whether and what kinds of medicine have been loaded 
once they board the ferry this evening. 
 
Field Hospital in Pulmoddai 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The field hospital in Pulmoddai provided by the Government 
of India and staffed by 52 Indian medical workers received over 400 
ICRC-assisted evacuees from the safe zone on March 16.  The first 
patient off the boat was reportedly a pregnant woman who gave birth 
minutes after arrival.  March 16 was the first day the Pulmoddai 
disembarkation location was used. 
 
Food Offloading Continues 
 
------------------------- 
 
¶8.  The "Vin-Tan" cargo vessel which is carrying another 500MT of 
food aid to the safe zone continues to be offloaded as of March 18. 
ICRC indicates that the offloading was temporarily interrupted on 
March 18 due to insecure conditions but resumed following security 
assurances.  Acting ICRC Head of Delegation reports that heavy 
fighting continues very close to the Government-declared "safe 
zone", and an ICRC local worker was shot in the foot by a stray 
bullet on March 17.  He separately commented to DCM that 
extrapolation of the casualty rate among ICRC's staff (one dead, 
five or six wounded) to the larger population would tend to 
substantiate the UN statistics of some 2,800 killed, 7,000 wounded 
since January 20. 
 
Reported Civilian Casualties 
---------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Tamil sources from within the LTTE-controlled area report 
78 civilians were killed and 188 injured on March 17.  Pro-LTTE 
Tamilnet reports that bombs were dropped 12 times in or near the 
safe zone on March 17. (Note: Such reports from Tamil sources cannot 
be confirmed and are frequently exaggerated.)  Tamil sources report 
that 1565 civilians fled into Government-controlled territory on 
March 16.  Government-influenced papers similarly report larger 
outflows in recent days; the Sri Lanka Daily News reports roughly 
3700 IDPs arrived on March 14-16; the office of the United Nations 
High Commissioner for Refugees has not yet confirmed these new 
arrivals. 
 
BLAKE