Secretary to the Ministry of Defence

“Reiterating Sri Lanka’s desire for enhanced maritime and ground surveillance capabilities, Rajapaksa also raised concerns about the ‘delay’ in the delivery of Bushmaster naval guns and ammunition. He explained that the delay was not based on legal restrictions due to the country’s internal political situation, but because of the need to ship the guns through a ‘staging point’ such as Kuwait. Expressing appreciation for the long-standing military training program between the U.S. and Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa noted that the joint military exercises scheduled last year had been postponed. ‘We hope the exercises take place this year,’ he said.” US Embassy Manila (Philippines) informed Washington.

A classified diplomatic cable which details a meeting the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had with Gotabaya Rajapaksa on July 31, 2007. The Colombo Telegraph found the related US diplomatic cable from the WikiLeaks database.

Related stories to this cable;

WikiLeaks: Gota Requests US Law Enforcement Assistance To Address Civilian-Military Issues