
By Colombo Telegraph-
“Ambassador met opposition leader Wickremesinghe on January 22 to urge him to seek common ground with his UNP critics, including leading dissident Karu Jayasuriya. Our only interest was in supporting the peace process” the US Ambassador Robert O. Blake informed Washington five days before Karu Jayasuriya joined Mahinda Rajapaksa government with a group of UNP parliamentarians.

Wickremesinghe appeared just as composed, but somewhat less self-assured than usual. He clearly was feeling under pressure and realized he might not win the battle to hold his party together. His efforts to reach out to the disaffected in his party nevertheless strike us as perhaps too little, too late. On the other hand, if he can manage to swallow some of his legendary pride, admit some mistakes, and make a frank appeal for unity to Jayasuriya and other would-be crossovers
The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and written on January 23, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.
The Ambassador wrote “Ambassador noted, but the current round of political wrangling threatened to derail the MoU between the major parties. Wickremesinghe noted he had tried to accommodate party reformers by appointing them to party positions and acceding to their request for a Special Session on March 17 to reform the party constitution. He appeared unsure that he could hold his party together, however. Ranil observed that the President’s strategy of attracting crossovers risked destabilizing the entire political structure in the South. He noted that the President’s SLFP, the JVP and the SLMC were all having cohesion problems as a result of government pressure tactics”
“Ambassador urged leader of the UNP and the opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe to exercise leadership by reconciling with the dissidents in his party, sharing some power, and allowing more intra-party democracy.” ambassador Blake further wrote.
Ambassador Blake wrote “Wickremesinghe noted that he planned to speak to Karu Jayasuriya, the nominal leader of the UNP dissident faction, later that day. He said that he needed to consult further with the entire senior UNP leadership. However, he did not think that the majority of his party could agree to the idea of accepting ministerial posts. Karu and the other potential cross-overs had an obligation to make the case for their strategy to the party as a whole, he added. Since Jayasuriya had openly expressed a lack of confidence in him, the subject of Karu resuming his previous function as deputy party leader was not likely to come up, Ranil thought.”
Placing a comment ambassador Blake wrote “Wickremesinghe appeared just as composed, but somewhat less self-assured than usual. He clearly was feeling under pressure and realized he might not win the battle to hold his party together. His efforts to reach out to the disaffected in his party nevertheless strike us as perhaps too little, too late. On the other hand, if he can manage to swallow some of his legendary pride, admit some mistakes, and make a frank appeal for unity to Jayasuriya and other would-be crossovers, he might still fend off the approaching UNP train wreck. (In fact, septel will report that early readouts on the outcome of the meeting with Jayasuriya indicate Ranil fell short of his goal.) We continue to think that the realization of Basil Rajapaksa’s plan to provide the government with a simple majority in parliament is more likely to detract from the peace process than to reinforce it. There is considerable risk that the government hardliners will seek to press the military advantage from their recent success in Vakarai. They may then try to cash in on the expected political bonus for the President’s party by calling new elections before the country – or the peace process ) are ready.”
Read the cable below for further details;
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000130 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2017 TAGS: PGOV PTER PHUM MOPS PREL CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: OPPOSITION LEADER SEEKS TO MEND PARTY RIFT, MAYBE TOO LATE REF: A) COLOMBO 102 B) COLOMBO 115 C) COLOMBO 127 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Ambassador met opposition leader Wickremesinghe on January 22 to urge him to seek common ground with his UNP critics, including leading dissident Karu Jayasuriya. Our only interest was in supporting the peace process, Ambassador noted, but the current round of political wrangling threatened to derail the MoU between the major parties (ref a). Wickremesinghe noted he had tried to accommodate party reformers by appointing them to party positions and acceding to their request for a Special Session on March 17 to reform the party constitution. He appeared unsure that he could hold his party together, however. Ranil observed that the President's strategy of attracting crossovers risked destabilizing the entire political structure in the South. He noted that the President's SLFP, the JVP and the SLMC were all having cohesion problems as a result of government pressure tactics. End summary. ¶2. (C) In a meeting on January 22, Ambassador urged leader of the UNP and the opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe to exercise leadership by reconciling with the dissidents in his party, sharing some power, and allowing more intra-party democracy. The U.S.'s only interest was in assisting the peace process, the Ambassador said, but we saw this as endangered by the ongoing internal political infighting. The peace process needed the SLFP-UNP MoU to drive it forward, and this required that both major parties remain strong and viable. ¶3. (C) Wickremesinghe noted that he planned to speak to Karu Jayasuriya, the nominal leader of the UNP dissident faction, later that day. He said that he needed to consult further with the entire senior UNP leadership. However, he did not think that the majority of his party could agree to the idea of accepting ministerial posts. Karu and the other potential cross-overs had an obligation to make the case for their strategy to the party as a whole, he added. Since Jayasuriya had openly expressed a lack of confidence in him, the subject of Karu resuming his previous function as deputy party leader was not likely to come up, Ranil thought. ¶4. (C) Wickremesinghe defended his approach to intra-party democracy, saying that he had accepted the dissidents' proposal of holding a Special Session to amend the party constitution on March 17. Before then, a consultation process needed to take place with the various party organs about their composition, and how the members are selected. The party's Political Affairs Committee, representing a broad cross section of the various tendencies in the party, would meet in February to draft proposals for the various reforms. However, most of the party would have problems accepting that those who wanted to leave it should participate materially in the reform process. ¶5. (C) Ranil noted that he had tried to accommodate divergent views by nominating most of the dissidents to important party positions. However, it was difficult to consummate this reconciliation because the dissidents had yet to withdraw a court case they had filed against party decisions. In any case, the UNP realized that it would lose a significant part of its talent pool if the crossovers took place. Still, he said the party base was holding together and would continue to support the UNP in future elections. ¶6. (C) Wickremesinghe said that although he was naturally concerned about the future of his party, at the moment he was more preoccupied with rescuing the MoU between the SLFP and the UNP. Under its terms, he noted, the UNP had committed to working with the government on the peace process and had agreed to support it on the budget and not to introduce a no-confidence motion for two years. The President, by COLOMBO 00000130 002 OF 002 failing to work with him to implement the MoU, and pursuing the crossover strategy to assure a narrow parliamentary majority, was actually destabilizing the entire political system in the South, Wickremesinghe said. Not just the UNP was having problems, but the JVP was experiencing internal difficulties as well in deciding whether to continue to support the government. He also mentioned the pressure that the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress was under from the government side (ref b). ¶7. (C) Ambassador underlined our point that only a solid parliamentary majority in favor of a strong peace proposal would give the government a mandate to conduct serious negotiations to end the conflict. Only the MoU had the potential to deliver such a majority. Ranil agreed, but reiterated that once the government violated the MoU by taking on the crossovers as ministers, the UNP would not be able to continue to implement the MoU. The government should not believe that it could recruit the JVP for a serious peace process, he added; the ultra-nationalists would keep attacking any reasonable proposals for compromise with the LTTE. ¶8. (C) Wickremesinghe believed that the government's back-up plan might be to call early elections in order to ensure itself a majority. The UNP was ready to fight an early election, he said, but as a practical matter, a ceasefire was a necessary condition for free and fair elections to proceed. It would not be possible to carry out credible polls in the North and East under war conditions, and the LTTE might attack election activities in the South as well. However, Ranil thought it would be appropriate to elect a new Parliament with a mandate to pass the constitutional reforms required for a settlement. Still, a ceasefire was the prerequisite for any such development. ¶9. (C) Wickremesinghe said that he was convinced the LTTE would seek a way to strike back after the government's capture of Vakarai (ref c). He thought the LTTE was following a strategy of tying down government security forces assets in the East, but he was not sure what the LTTE's riposte would be. The attack on the supply ship near Jaffna showed that the LTTE was possibly trying to isolate Jaffna before striking there. The government and the international community should be trying to engage LTTE thinkers, for example, by arranging a visit with Nepalese Maoists to study the resolution of Nepal's conflict. However, the death of LTTE ideologist and chief negotiator Anton Balasingham left a void. There was now a dearth of interlocutors in the LTTE one could approach in this way. ¶10. (C) COMMENT: Wickremesinghe appeared just as composed, but somewhat less self-assured than usual. He clearly was feeling under pressure and realized he might not win the battle to hold his party together. His efforts to reach out to the disaffected in his party nevertheless strike us as perhaps too little, too late. On the other hand, if he can manage to swallow some of his legendary pride, admit some mistakes, and make a frank appeal for unity to Jayasuriya and other would-be crossovers, he might still fend off the approaching UNP train wreck. (In fact, septel will report that early readouts on the outcome of the meeting with Jayasuriya indicate Ranil fell short of his goal.) We continue to think that the realization of Basil Rajapaksa's plan to provide the government with a simple majority in parliament is more likely to detract from the peace process than to reinforce it. There is considerable risk that the government hardliners will seek to press the military advantage from their recent success in Vakarai. They may then try to cash in on the expected political bonus for the President's party by calling new elections before the country - or the peace process ) are ready. BLAKE
DG US / December 19, 2011
Karu is history in a few hours. So is Sajith and his freaking Golayas.
Ravi will be the Deputy Leader. Gamini the Chairman, Michael Perera the Deputy Chairman, and John Amaratunge the Chief Whip and some other position. Daya Gamage will be the National Organizer .
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Kalu Albert / December 19, 2011
Ranil should win . Paba is better than karu. we in gampaha select paba over karu
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Gamma W Nawala / December 19, 2011
How could anyone think Ranil is a LLTE supporter? If it was so by now this government would have been grilling him and he may have been ousted long ago. He is clean and that is why no body can point a finger at him. MAy be he is not a good statesmen, but his experience super-seed every one, and he is a leader that Sri Lanka needed but lost due to the shortsightedness of the supporters. Whatever happens it will be the say of the supporters. And no one can challenge it. So whatever it is lets see at the results.. Soon if the UNP do not iron out the differences it will be the loosers, because all this pranks by the members has confused the supporters. So there should be a settlement and it should stop……
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CP / December 19, 2011
This is good for the UNP, everybody could evaluate themselves in politics. When the political parties goes to opposition always there is so many problem occurs. Example, SLFP has many problems from 1977 to 93 than UNP now. Every politician like media station, think they are more popular than others. That is may be true but to be good politician popularity is not everything.They must have clear vision and skills. Today is a very important day for Sri Lankan politics because it is going to decide Sajith and Dayasiri’s future not Ranil or others. If Ranil has more vote and still majority in working committee everybody vote for Ravi even he is not difference than Sajith, what happen to Sajith he will lose everything he build more than decade. This team including karu, they do not have real inside political experience they think and work as normal people in Sri Lanka. They think changing a government is very easy thing like given small donation to people and make speeches and protest. Everybody has to understand reality of politics in third world. Everybody try to get something from politics to just maintain their day-to- day life, without problems. Through that politician become a very important factor in Sri Lankan society. There is no opportunity for everybody; there is opportunity for who has connection and power. To change the government we should stay until we got the right time. Example if we fight with wrong time with government as opposition we will finish all over resource before the real fight. That is what Ranil always doing, he knows from his experience which time is right for fight. General public always thing the best politician are who is origination protest and given excellent speech’s. Reality is to bring down the government very important thing is make internal problem with in the government. There are more examples for this in Sri Lanka and the world history
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rama / December 19, 2011
Ranil is indeed a “qualified” politian. But, he is not a “successfull” politian. Karu is now a “successfull” politian (mainly because Sirasa has slung mud at Ranil). But, Karu is not that “qualified”.
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Dharme / December 19, 2011
all seems to be ok from both sides except sajith premadasa,srilanka dont need a pupet like sajith!his father thaught a good lesson to Srilanka!
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Rohan / December 19, 2011
This is the time that we all were expecting for a long period of time. Ranil as a leader, is going to face a tough moment. It is 100% sure that he will win the game. But after that no body can claim again that he should resign. If it is an election we have to face it and accept the result. But after the election, everyone should get together and fight against this stupid regime and save the life of General and the people of this country. Otherwise, if Sajith’s party starts to fight again against Ranil, we will fight against him & chase him from the party. Even though Karu will be defeated we should not kick him out. Ranil should get his support also to go this long journey. Jayawewa! for UNPers and the pro-democratic people of our motherland.
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Dharme / December 19, 2011
Here is the chance for people who wanted the real change in the UNP. Ranil is a gentlemen but history proves he was taken by ride by the MR. His image has been abused in such an extent that in an election he would be defeated in media with no ability to recover. This is what we experienced over the last decade. it is obvious that you can not change the attitude of mass overnight and Ranil could not changed it for last period of time. Ranil should be the vision of new Sri Lanka, but what is important at this moment is coming in to power. i think this is the best chance for that. MR would be the most worried man of a new change.
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