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202476: Menon on end game in Sri Lanka
202476, 4/15/2009 15:49,09NEWDELHI743, Embassy New Delhi,
CONFIDENTIAL,
09NEWDELHI327, "VZCZCXRO0559OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH
RUEHPWDE RUEHNE #0743 1051549ZNY CCCCC ZZHO 151549Z APR 09FM
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6178INFO RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO IMMEDIATE 1680RUCNCLS/ALLSOUTH
AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITYRUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY
BEIJING PRIORITY 7565RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY
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OTTAWA PRIORITY 0813RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY
1650RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 6264RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
PRIORITYRUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7864","C O N F
I
D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 000743
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2019 TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, PTER, CE,
IN
SUBJECT: FOREIGN SECRETARY MENON ON END GAME IN SRI LANKA
REF: A. NEW DELHI 327 B. COLOMBO
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Peter Burleigh. Reasons: 1.4 (B
and D )
1. (C) In an April 15 meeting, Indian Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon
reviewed with Ambassador Burleigh the current state of Indo-Sri
Lankan
discussions as the conflict in northern Sri Lanka reaches a
conclusion. Sri Lankan
Foreign Minister Bogollagama was in New Delhi April 15 for
meetings with Foreign
Ministry officials and had made clear the Sri Lankan government
did not want a
UN Envoy involved in resolving the conflict with the LTTE, nor
was the GSL
interested now in direct negotiations with the LTTE or in a
cease-fire.
2. (C) Menon said the GOI had advised Sri Lanka against
rejecting all such
proposals out of hand and had offered a suggestion that the GSL
consider offering
an amnesty to all but the hard core of the LTTE. He judged that
the GSL may be
""coming around"" to this idea, but said there were clearly
questions about what
constituted the core of the organization and what modalities
would be used to make
such an offer. Menon said that UNSYG's Chief of Staff Vijay
Nambiar planned alow key visit to Sri Lanka that was primarily
focused on the UN humanitarian
operations. Nambiar, who will arrive on April 15, planned to
meet with the Sri
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Lanka government, Ambassador Blake, the Indian High Commissioner
and the
Chinese, according to Menon.
3. (C) Turning to the question of how the GSL could accomodate
some form of talks
with the LTTE (likely through an intermediary), Menon
acknowledged that the
space for such discussions was small and flagged President
Rajapaksa's electoral
considerations as militating against anything that could be
viewed as a concession
to the LTTE. ""Quiet diplomacy"" outside of Sri Lanka faced
serious challenges and
the Sri Lankan government would have to ""be dragged, kicking
and screaming"" to
talks.
4. (C) As for the LTTE, Menon said India's view was that the
group was sending
conflicting signals and there was a real question as to who
spoke for Prabhakaran.
The GOI judged that some members of the Tamil Diaspora were in
touch with those
around Prabhakaran, including his son Charles Anthony, but it
was an openquestion whether such Diaspora figures could speak
authoritatively for him. Menon
also questioned whether Prabhakaran understood the situation he
faced. He said
that Prabhakaran alone lacked the ability to prevent Tamil
refugees from fleeing the
safe zone, so that indicated to the GOI that there were still
those in the LTTE who
shared Prabhakaran's willingness to risk their lives and those
of many others in a
final showdown.
5. (C) Menon dismissed the possibility of direct Indian
involvement in negotiationsbetween the LTTE and the Sri Lankan
government, conceding that India's own
ongoing elections made such efforts impossible. For now, India's
role would be
limited to providing relief supplies through the UN World Food
Program. He asked
whether the U.S. was interested in such talks and said India
would think about
participation, perhaps with other states under UN auspices, in
an effort to obtain a
peaceful conclusion to the conflict.
BURLEIGH "
Keywords: cable202476, The India cables, WikiLeaks, Eelam War
IV, LTTE, ethnic
conflict, Tamil civilians, Peter Burleigh, Shivshankar Menon
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