By Colombo Telegraph –
“Rajapaksa emphasized to Blake his personal commitment to developing relations with the United States, pointing to the strong personal connections between the United States and his country’s leadership. (Note: Rajapaksa himself is a U.S. citizen. End Note.) Blake said the U.S. shares this desire, but we need to see progress on the issues discussed. Evidence of freedom of movement, for example, would go a long way toward that end.” the US State Department informed US Embassy Colombo.
A classified diplomatic cable which details a meeting the US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake has had with Secretary to the Ministry of Difence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on September 24, 2009 in US. The Colombo Telegraph found the related US diplomatic cable from the Secretary of State section of the WikiLeaks database. The cable was classified as “Confidential” signed by Hillary Clinton on September 25 2009.
Related stories to this cable;
WikiLeaks: After The War Gota – Blake Meeting In America
WikiLeaks: Eight Thousand IDPs Disappeared – Gota To US
WikiLeaks: Gota Pleaded That He Had Not Received The Credit He Deserved – US State Department
Read the cable below for further details;
VZCZCXRO4782 OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHNEH DE RUEHC #0197/01 2681939 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O P 251919Z SEP 09 FM SECSTATE WASHDC TO RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO IMMEDIATE 6018 INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 3728 RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN PRIORITY 6600 RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 5325 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 6882 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 6917 RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 8739 RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 6704 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 6448 RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 2451 RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 8121 RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 6447 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0629 RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 9780 RUEHNEH/AMCONSUL HYDERABAD PRIORITY 0110 RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 3402 RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 2786 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7878 RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 9320
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 100197 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/24/2019 TAGS: CE PGOV PHUM PREF PREL PTER SUBJECT: SCA ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE'S SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 MEETING WITH SRI LANKAN DEFENSE SECRETARY GOTABHAYA RAJAPAKSA Classified By: SCA: AS ROBLAKE ¶1. (SBU) Participants: U.S. SCA A/S Blake SCA Special Assistant Matthew Lowe Anthony Renzulli (SCA Notetaker) Sri Lanka Defense Secretary Rajapaksa Ambassador to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya ¶2. (C) SUMMARY. In a September 24 meeting with Defense Secretary Gotobhaya Rajapaksa on the margins of the UN General Assembly, SCA A/S Robert Blake stressed the urgent importance of resettling as many internally displaced persons (IDPs) as possible and providing them freedom of movement, and the urgency of beginning a political reconciliation process with the Tamil community, if we are to make progress in strengthening U.S.-Sri Lanka relations. Key to reconciliation is identifying an accountability process to help address past human rights abuses and potential violations of international law that may have transpired during the final stages of the military conflict with the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), Blake pressed. ¶3. (C) Rajapaksa underlined his personal commitment to strengthening relations with the U.S. He said the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is committed to resettling as many IDPs to their villages as quickly as possible, arguing that it is in the government's political and security interests to do so, but the process is slowed by a lack of funding and demining equipment, inadequate infrastructure and housing in conflict-affected areas, and the continued presence of LTTE in the IDP camps. He maintained that people can leave the camps and regretted the perception that they are detained. He argued that people in the camps have nowhere else to go and have chosen to stay. He pointed to the Eastern Province as an example of a successful resettlement effort which, he stressed, took up to nine months. It has only been three months since the end of war, he emphasized. He sought to assure Blake of President Rajapaksa,s commitment to political reconciliation, but argued that the President needed to be cautious of political opponents who will seek to portray him as selling out the nation after the Army,s sacrifice and hard-won victory. Accountability "commissions" at this stage, he told Blake, would tear the country apart, rather than promote reconciliation. END SUMMARY. ----------- IDP RETURNS ----------- ¶4. (C) Blake underscored the importance of resettling as many IDPs as quickly as possible, noting that a number of GSL-announced deadlines had lapsed. Rajapaksa said that he and the President believe that the sooner IDPs are resettled, the better. That's why the government's plans have been so ambitious. The camps are difficult to control security-wise -- LTTE combatants easily hide in them -- and breed political resentment, he contended. The President wants these people's political support. Screening for former LTTE could more easily take place in villages. The GSL knows who most of the hard-core LTTE are and could easily monitor them. ¶5. (C) The biggest problem, according to Rajapaksa, is financial. For example, Justice Minister Moragoda, who is in STATE 00100197 002 OF 004 SUBJECT: SCA ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE'S SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 MEETING WITH SRI LANKAN DEFENSE SECRETARY GOTABHAYA RAJAPAK charge of rehabilitation of former LTTE combatants, is keen to press ahead on this effort. The GSL has provided staff and developed with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) a strategy for rehabilitation that emphasizes livelihood training, but still lacks the resources to build the centers and the housing required. (NOTE: State/USAID has proposed to DOD using a significant portion of the approximately $10 million in DOD-provided 1207 funding for post-conflict stabilization in northern Sri Lanka (about $10 million) on IOM-implemented projects that support the rehabilitation of former LTTE and pro-government paramilitary combatants and former child soldiers, building on similar work in the East. END NOTE.) ¶6. (C) Blake recalled that, as Ambassador, he told GSL officials that the U.S. would have difficulty funding the long-term presence of IDPs in camps; it would be perceived as supporting incarceration. Rajapaksa stressed that it had been only three months; in the East, the first batch of IDP returns did not take place for nine months. Blake pointed to the barbed wire around the camp as evidence that camp residents could not leave. Rajapaksa disputed that assessment. The barbed wire, he said, could be removed. The camps are not closed. Eight thousand camp residents have disappeared and people are free to leave, for example, to go to the hospital or shopping in Vavuniya city (Department would appreciate Embassy Colombo's assessment of whether this is true). The reality, he argued, is that these people have no place to go. The government offered the elderly the opportunity to leave, but they chose to remain. Likewise, 45,000 IDPs from Jaffna Peninsula have chosen to remain in the camps because there is no housing on Jaffna. Basic infrastructure and housing in conflict-affected areas in the North have been completely destroyed, Rajapaksa maintained, though electricity provision is underway and irrigation reconstruction is commencing. Family and friends are not, in most cases, a viable option; it is a significant financial burden for a poor family to take on even one person. --------- DE-MINING --------- ¶7. (C) Rajapaksa surmised that if the GSL was to allow IDPs to go wherever they wanted, there would be significant casualties from landmines. Blake said the U.S. could consider doing more to assist in the demining area, if freedom of movement is assured. Rajapaksa said that many promises from the international community of demining assistance have not been fulfilled. The military alone successfully de-mined seventy percent of the East. He asked that the U.S. provide demining equipment to the government directly and demand accountability. He suggested the Embassy could create a mechanism to ensure such accountability. He questioned the utility of the demining assistance the U.S. has provided to NGOs that were not, he said, working productively. A/S Blake reiterated that assurances on freedom of movement would help us make the case for additional assistance, and suggested removing the barbed wire and allowing the press to witness it and free movement of camp residents. ----------------------- POLITICAL RECONCILIATION ----------------------- ¶8. (C) Blake questioned why President Rajapaksa announced his intent to delay steps on devolution until after presidential and parliamentary elections in spring 2010, when opposition political parties are so weak. Progress on this area would net Tamil votes that could more than offset any loss of support from nationalists, whereas continued delay in announcing political reconciliation efforts would further diminish the President's Tamil support. Rajapaksa reiterated STATE 00100197 003 OF 004 SUBJECT: SCA ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE'S SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 MEETING WITH SRI LANKAN DEFENSE SECRETARY GOTABHAYA RAJAPAK that the President wants Tamil votes and said his party expects to win them in the Eastern Province. The President knew he would lose in Vavuniya municipality to the opposition Tamil National Alliance, so soon after the fighting, but was okay with that. The President's concern is that the nationalist People,s Liberation Front (JVP) has tried to destabilize the government by suggesting that the President aims to sacrifice the hard-won victory of the Army. He attributed rumors about Chief of Defense Staff Fonseka's presidential candidacy to these machinations. ¶9. (C) Rajapaksa said the President was committed to devolution, but that the 13th Amendment would require adjustment before it could be implemented. Right now, police authority would devolve to the Chief Minister; and the only Tamil Chief Minister would be in the Northern Province. Chief Ministers have no national or international obligations; the GSL wants more Tamil-speaking representation among the police. ¶10. (C) What is most important, said Blake, is that everyone should feel that they are equal as Sri Lankans and share the same rights. That is not the case right now for Tamils. Rajapaksa blamed the LTTE, and pointed again to the East where there is "full freedom." He urged A/S Blake to have confidence in the GSL. He regretted that there was too much "speculation, talking and shouting." We know the situation is not perfect, he said. "The conflict was long and hard," and society has benefitted greatly from the LTTE's defeat. Rajapaksa pleaded that he had not received the credit he deserved for disarming the LTTE cadres and the paramilitaries. He has outlawed ransom payments and threatened to prosecute anyone who pays bribes or ransom. The government wants people, even former hardcore LTTE, to live a normal life. Blake suggested that the GSL engage the Tamil diaspora community, which could provide financial resources for reconstruction in the north, if the GSL can convince them of iyts good intentions. He suggested that the GSL consider starting a non-profit organization that could receive contributions from overseas for reconstruction and rehabilitation. Rajapaksa told Blake that the GSL has started reaching out to Tamils in Colombo; Ambassador Wickramasuriya said the Embassy has begun to do so in the U.S. as well. "People who want to settle problems are not aggressive," Rajapaksa said. -------------- ACCOUNTABILITY -------------- ¶11. (C) Blake said that the report requested by Congress on potential violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity committed during the final stages of the conflict is expected to be released in mid to late October. It is secondary source reporting and we will make sure it is identified as such, Blake said. However, part of political reconciliation is identifying an accountability process to deal with past human rights abuses and look at what occurred in the final stages of the war. Rajapaksa responded that commissions like these are going to tear the people apart, suggesting that LTTE supporters would exploit the process. He said the government did a lot to control wide-scale abuses, such as those, he implied, that had occurred in the past. Mass rape and village massacres did not occur during the GSL's campaign, and he pointed again to the positive overall experience in the Eastern Province. In that case, said Blake, the GSL had nothing to fear from a national dialogue and reconciliation. Rajapaksa said the government is committed to winning hearts and minds, but it has only been three months since the end of fighting. --------------------------------- BUILDING U.S.-SRI LANKA RELATIONS --------------------------------- STATE 00100197 004 OF 004 ¶12. (C) Rajapaksa emphasized to Blake his personal commitment to developing relations with the United States, pointing to the strong personal connections between the United States and his country's leadership. (Note: Rajapaksa himself is a U.S. citizen. End Note.) Blake said the U.S. shares this desire, but we need to see progress on the issues discussed. Evidence of freedom of movement, for example, would go a long way toward that end. CLINTON
hansan / November 1, 2012
This man is a shame to Sri Lanka. Looks like he is trying to Worship Blake, Looking so scared.
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gamini / November 2, 2012
Hansan, will Gota not venerate Robert Blake, his God Father who with other Americans installed Gota to execute the job for them? Although they trade charges at each other for public consumption, as there are the Leela type who think Gota is a Hero.
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hansan / November 2, 2012
Now I got it Sir.
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Dinuk / November 2, 2012
The US has always played a double game – cultivating third world military dictators and giving them citizenship on the one hand, and preaching human rights on the other.!
And why does not the wretched Tamil Disapora or the Sinhala’s whose family members were white vaned, or preferably both Sinhalas and Tamils who have suffered at Gota the white van goon, file HR cases and or war crimes trial against this Goon?
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Samansiri / November 4, 2012
In any other country, a political party with all top members being foreign citizens and permanent residents (including MR, if you didn’t know), beating the patriotic drum would be ridiculed to kingdom come. But not in Sri Lanka.
If these people are so scared of this government to even call their BS why do they keep voting for the same goons; I will never understand. Sri Lankans (a whole country) must be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
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Leela / November 1, 2012
Why waste time talking on talks of bygone days.
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Srilankan / November 1, 2012
Leela, What we did in the past shows our character. This talk of bygone days shows the real character of Buddhist Sinhala Defence Secretary who who rarely misses a chance to flay America in Sinhala
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American Lanka Lover / November 2, 2012
Despite being born of Sinhalese blood, Gota has evolved and is now more my countrymen than yours. Most of my fellow Californians will welcome him “home” with open arms when he finally gets fed up with all the flak he must endured for having vanquished the LTTE. We have our share of human flotsam (the terror diaspora) in our great state too who will no doubt protest and try to sue him among other means of harassing this great warrior.
Gamini how I wish it were true that my government has given Gota the support he requested in his fight against terror but, to our collective disgrace, we rebuffed his requests while providing sanctuary to the terrorists. Not not every third taxi drive is a Tamil like in Toronto, thank heavens, but we DO have some. If I suspect a taxi driver is Tamil I ask befpre entering his cab and if he answers in the affirmative I get another taxi as i decline to knowingly patronize the terror regime. Compelled eelam contributions exist in the US too, despite LTTE being a proscribed foreign terrorist organization. But they out their blood money in accounts in the name of Tamils Against genocide or other false fronts to evade those sanctions.
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gamini / November 2, 2012
Ugly American, please provide this bugger Gota refuge as with the next storm after Sandy can wipe out California also. Not enough what Sandy did to NY, New Jersy, which America richly deserve for the villainy you commit.
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American Lanka Lover / November 2, 2012
Gamini: your knowledge of American geography is as lacking as your knowledge of Sri Lankan politics; California does not receive tropical cyclones as our offshore waters are much too cold. Your overlords in Chennai, however, just took a direct hit and an oil tanker remains grounded raising a potential ecological disaster. We call that karma.
I DO agree that it was “villainy” for US to refuse to give military and intelligence support to GOSL in its noble struggle to rid the island of terrorism.
Jegath: Which islands in the Maldives? I visited recently and am quite curious as I follow minivannews quite closely but have read nothing about it. Given rising sea levels, the Maldives has a sovereign wealth fund to buy a new homeland in Sri Lanka (Hambantota being the logical area as there is so much unused land out that way.
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Renuka K / November 2, 2012
American Lanka Lover, read this one!
WikiLeaks: American Assistance To Track Prabakharan
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/wikileaks-american-assistance-to-track-prabakharan-2/
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gamini / November 2, 2012
Ugly American, even the waters around NY and other places would have have been cold around this time of the year? Yet what happened? I admit my lack of knowledge of American Geography. But for you to assert that you know of local politics more than I do is the height of over rating yourself. As for your denial that the Americans have been and still are nuturing the Rajapaksas will be out very soon. Wait till December and Nature will pay you buggers with interest.
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Jegath / November 2, 2012
Speaking of blood money, supporters of war criminals like you should know better, it seems MR has bought three islands in Maldives, bought down the latest Aston Martin for Namal and the list goes on…Also not every toilet/window cleaner in London is a sinhalese student, poor fellows what can they do when MR robs them back home.If I suspect the cleaner is Sinhalese I ask him/her before letting them into my en suite room and if he is offended I simply get another cleaner, as I decline to knowlingly patronize the terror regime, which is accused of murdering thousands who had their lives ahead..
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gamini / November 2, 2012
Being a Sinhalese, I do not blame you Jegath.
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Siva Sankaran Sarma / November 3, 2012
You must be some kind of big shot Jegath, to be patronising such luxurious accommodations as *en suite* rooms. Thank you for sharing that detail with us, we’re all so very very impressed. Hikzz.
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American Lanka Lover / November 2, 2012
Renuka: Thanks for posting that link to which I have two comments:
1. It is plausible, is it not, that GOSL might have granted amnesty to lower level leaders but that publicizing that fact would have caused an outcry by extremist rightist parties who are much more virulently anti Tamil than the SPLF?
2. The theoretical discussion of of US assets being used to track VP IF HE ESCAPED the island never got put to the test as he never managed to escape did he? Had US offered to track his location while on the island he could certainly have been taken out long before May 2009 sparring many lives on both sides. That failure can be blamed on both my government and the Tamil disapora, but it cannot be blamed on the Rajapakses who desperately wanted such assistance but were rebuffed. Has VP ever killed Americans you can bet we would have helped GOSL take him out long ago, but he was much too smart to have intentionally antagonized the superpower. Foreigners were killed in the Air Ceylon and the airport incidents but they were at the wrong place at the wrong time and were not intentionally targeted.
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gamini / November 2, 2012
Ugly American, wait for the exposure how the Americans deliberately deceived VP and helped MR, selecting KP to take over the remaining LTTE to work out a deal. The current soft peddleing on issues is for that reason.
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Californian Friend / November 3, 2012
3 Years and 2 months hence the date of this wire, despite the Rajapaksas desperate wish to be recognized by U.S. and western leaders, they remain deeply holed in America’s dog house – branded as Mafia-like dictators. You want respect? Cease the witch-hunt on the chief justice, repeal the 18th, re-introduce the 17th, remove the extended term limits on the presidency, expeditiously pass the right for Information Act, come clean on the events of the last few weeks of the war (honesty is integrity, and most Western leaders will understand the trying situation you faced, there will be no war-crimes tribunals), and get serious about reconciliation / devolution of power.
In other words, act like Statesmen, and you will, for certain, win the respect of the West/US. Or continue in your present course – of consolidation of personal political power – and you will be doomed as nothing more than 2-bit dictators. Nothing wrong in wanting to be in power, but when you do that at cost to democratic norms, you invariably prioritize your personal desires above that of the law and the well being of the nation – just as Richard Nixon did with Watergate or Gaddafi with Libya. As Buddhists it is hoped that you are cognizant that ‘power’ too is in-permanent. And as to how you go down in history – either as true Statesmen or pariahs like Nixon or Gaddafi – is exclusively your choice.
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