\u201cHe thanked the U.S. for pushing Sri Lanka closer to China which represented the economic future.\u201d The US Embassy further informed to Washington.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/tissa-vitharana-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" "\\"Tissa")
<\/a>Vitharana is awaiting the Presidents response and comments and he<\/p><\/div>\n
A leaked US unclassified, but \u201cSENSITIVE\u201d diplomatic cable, recounts details of meetings the US Senate Foreign Relations staff members has had with the senior government officials, international organizations, political leaders, civil-society activists, and journalists between November 2-8, 2009. The Colombo Telegraph found the cable from WikiLeaks database. The cable was written on December 1, 2009\u00a0by the US Ambassador to Colombo Patricia A. Butenis.<\/p>\n
The US Ambassador wrote \u201c The StaffDel met Minister of Science and Technology and All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) Chairman Tissa Vitharana, who emphasized the need for sustaining peace, working towards a political solution and empowering the people. The key goal of APRC was permit the devolution of powers to the provinces under the 13th<\/sup> Amendment. He informed the StaffDel that the APRC had submitted its assessment report to President Rajapaksa and was awaiting the Presidents response and comments.\u201d \u201c Vitharana criticized the 13th<\/sup> Amendment as an Indian creation, but found some useful elements in the 17th<\/sup> Amendment. His goal was to simplify and streamline the government, giving more power to traditional village councils. This would give proper representation to small ethnic enclaves scattered throughout the country. He commented on his recent meetings with diaspora representatives in Europe as prat of his work with ethnic community.\u201d she further wrote.<\/p>\n The Colombo Telegraph publishes the relevant part of the leaked cable below.<\/p>\n Related news;<\/p>\n WikiLeaks: ‘I am not saying we are clean!’ –\u00a0 Basil to US Senate Foreign Relations staff<\/a><\/p>\n WikiLeaks: The war had \u2018not been clean\u2019 Gota to US Senate Foreign Relations staff<\/a><\/p>\n WikiLeaks: \u00a0GSL is very interested in greater engagement with the U.S. – Moragoda<\/a><\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,1,27],"tags":[1423,1161,1134,1135,1185,1298,1407,1263,1424],"class_list":["post-1695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-politics","category-news","category-wikileaks","tag-all-party-representative-committee","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-human-rights","tag-mahinda-rajapakse","tag-patricia-a-butenis","tag-sri-lankans-in-wikileaks","tag-tissa-vitarana","tag-us-embassy-cables-on-sri-lanka","tag-us-senate-foreign-relations-staff"],"yoast_head":"\nVZCZCXRO5326\nPP RUEHBI\nDE RUEHLM #1054\/01 3270240\nZNR UUUUU ZZH\nP 230240Z NOV 09\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0805\nINFO RUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 2075\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 9103\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 7345\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON 5246\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3500\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO 5184\nRUEHSM\/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0719\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 4299\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 9666\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 6960\nRUEHON\/AMCONSUL TORONTO 0040\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA 3842\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS\nUNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 COLOMBO 001054\n\nSENSITIVE\n\nSIPDIS\n\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INSB\n\nE.O. 12958: N\/A\nTAGS: PGOV<\/a> PREL<\/a> PHUM<\/a> CE<\/a>\nSUBJECT: SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE (SFRC) FACT FINDING\nMISSION TO SRI LANKA\n\n\u00b6<\/a>1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On November 2-8, Senate Foreign Relations staff\nmembers Nilmini Rubin and Fatema Sumar visited Sri Lanka and held\nmeetings with senior government officials, international\norganizations, political leaders, civil-society activists, and\njournalists to discuss post war reconciliation, resettlement of\ninternally displaced persons (IDPs), the humanitarian situation, and\nmedia freedom. They also visited the South, East and IDP camp at\nManik Farm. The StaffDel observed that the post-war situation in\nSri Lanka was complex, particularly in light of possible elections;\nSri Lankans no longer sensed a strong partnership with the U.S.; the\nU.S. \"tool box\" in dealing with the government of Sri Lanka (GSL)\nwas self-limited; a sense of palpable fear still hung over the media\nand civil society; and while the GSL was making progress and doing\nsome good things, SL had a long way to go on reconciliation and\nresettlement. Recognizing SL's geo-strategic importance to the U.S.\nand the current and long-term bilateral relationship, many SL\ninterlocutors gave their recommendations on strengthening the\nrelationship and noted a need for more U.S. assistance for\nresettlement and demining. END SUMMARY.\n\nPRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR:\nCRITICISMS NOT WARRANTED\n------------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>2. (SBU) The president's brother, MP, and de-facto czar of the IDP\nand demining issues Basil Rajapaksa hoped to improve the bilateral\nrelationship and build trust with the U.S. He was critical of\nrecent U.S. remarks and recommended that the U.S. should choose its\nwords carefully. For example, he noted that \"the U.S. monitoring\nthe progress\" was perceived as \"U.S. encroachment on SL's\nsovereignty.\" While Sri Lanka was a small but proud country, SL did\nnot warrant a \"minority mindset\". He suggested that the U.S. should\napproach SL as \"friends\" and \"give suggestions rather than make\ncritical remarks,\" and such criticisms were a recent phenomenon. In\nresponse to the \"incident's report,\" Rajapaksa candidly remarked,\n\"I'm not saying we're clean; we could not abide by international law\n- this would have gone on for centuries, an additional 60 years.\"\nHe highlighted the GSL's excellent relationship with India, and\nargued that even India did not request monitoring of SL's progress.\nBasil spoke at length on the resettlement progress and noted that\nJanuary 31 ends the 180-day plan, and that the GSL had promised to\nhave 80% of the IDPs released in 180 days, but that \"Blake had said\nour plan was too ambitious.\" He asserted that 80% of the IDPs would\nbe released by the end of January. He did not want to release\ndetails of the government's plan because any delays or changes would\nleave the GSL open to international criticism. Basil believed SL\nwas well on its way \"to win the hearts and minds of the people\" and\nto resettle the IDPs. On freedom of movement, the GSL was still\nconcerned about LTTE sympathizers in the camps and took a paternal\nview of the safety of IDPs returning to cleared lands. On media\nfreedom, Basil argued that the media had not been singled out, and\nthat high ranking police and army officials and members of the\nbusiness community had also been imprisoned on the terrorism\ncharges. On media access to the camps, Rajapaksa emphasized that\nmedia restrictions in the camps were for the benefit of the IDPs and\ncommented that \"IDPs don't like media, cameras, because they don't\nwant to be portrayed in those conditions.\" He pointed out that free\naccess would be only granted to those \"genuinely interested\" and\nonly those \"that could be truly trusted.\"\n\nDEFENSE SECRETARY: NO\nRECOGNITION OF GSL'S PROGRESS\n-----------------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>3. (SBU) Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa expressed frustration\nthat the U.S. and international community had not recognized the\ngovernment's progressive transition to democracy, ethnic\nreconciliation, disarmament and demobilization of paramilitary\ngroups, rehabilitation of child soldiers, and economic development.\nHe repeatedly used the Eastern Province as an example of the\ngovernment's demonstrated performance record and as a model for\n\nCOLOMBO 00001054 002 OF 006\n\nplans in the North. He regretted that SL was \"poor at propaganda\"\nand had done a poor job communicating its actions and intent to the\ninternational community, especially the U.S. and the West. While\nquick to criticize, the U.S. had been slow to acknowledge SL's\nachievements. Rajapaksa believed strongly in the value of repairing\nSL's relations with the U.S. and recommended that the U.S. should\nfocus its attention on the future and not the past, judging the GSL\non its record of performance in the Eastern Province, and not on the\nagendas of its critics. Rajapaksa reiterated SL's real victory over\nthe LTTE and contended that lasting peace would only be achieved by\ndevelopment in the North. Rajapaksa noted that in defeating the\nLTTE terrorists the war had \"not been clean,\" but was still a\nsuccess. The Defense Secretary ruled out expansion of the military -\ndismissing it as \"only the army talking\" - and said he hoped to\nincrease SL military's involvement in future UN peacekeeping\noperations. According to Rajapaksa, the increases in the defense\nbudget were meant to meet payment schedules for acquisitions during\nthe war from China, Pakistan and Israel. The Defense Secretary took\nthe opportunity to apologize to the staffers for involving them in a\nsecurity incident at their hotel room the night before. The\nincident occurred when they received a surprise visit to one of\ntheir rooms by Sri Lankan plain clothes police. The police, acting\non orders to investigate an anonymous tip that room 1603 (staffer's\nroom) was harboring a terrorist, reacted by going directly to the\nroom (not alerting the hotel) to investigate. The Defense Secretary\nexplained that he had personally received this tip; had he known\nthat the staffers were the occupants of the room 1603, he would have\nprevented the incident. While the Defense Secretary apologized for\nthe incident, it demonstrated heightened security concerns and lack\nof an adequate information-screening process by the police and the\nDefense Secretary.\n\nJUSTICE MINISTER: \"GOLDEN MOMENT\"\nBUT \"COMPLEX\"\n---------------------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>4. (SBU) Minister of Justice Malinda Moragoda told StaffDel the GSL\nwas very interested in greater engagement with the U.S. but said the\npolitical situation was \"complex.\" According to Moragoda, there was\nmuch resentment towards the old families and elites in Sri Lanka\namongst the Sinhalese middle and lower classes for past economic\nfocus on Colombo and appeasement of the LTTE, and some of this\nresentment spilled over into GSL relations with the U.S. and other\nwestern countries. Nevertheless, with the end of the war, Sri Lanka\nwas at a \"golden moment\" for building national reconciliation.\nStaffDel suggested that an independent investigation of war crimes\nallegations was a necessary step in national healing and\nreconciliation. Moragoda said Sri Lanka \"must find its own way\" on\ndealing with the war crimes issue and noted \"frankly\" that while the\npanel of eminent persons recently appointed by the president was a\nreaction to the publication of the Congressional report on incidents\nduring the war, Sri Lanka had a regrettably long history of periodic\nviolence and so the publication of the State Department's report to\nCongress on incidents during the war had little relevance to most\nSri Lankans.\n\nAPRC CHAIRMAN: EMPOWER THE PEOPLE\n---------------------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>5. (SBU) The StaffDel met Minister of Science and Technology and\nAll-Party Representative Committee (APRC) Chairman Tissa Vitarana,\nwho emphasized the need for sustaining peace, working towards a\npolitical solution and empowering the people. The key goal of APRC\nwas permit the devolution of powers to the provinces under the 13th\nAmendment. He informed the StaffDel that the APRC had submitted its\nassessment report to President Rajapaksa and was awaiting the\nPresident's response and comments. Vitarana criticized the 13th\nAmendment as an Indian creation, but found some useful elements in\nthe 17th Amendment. His goal was to simplify and streamline the\ngovernment, giving more power to traditional village councils. This\nwould give proper representation to small ethnic enclaves scattered\n\nCOLOMBO 00001054 003 OF 006\n\nthroughout the country. He commented on his recent meeting with\ndiaspora representatives in Europe as part of his work with ethnic\ncommunity. On human rights and media freedom problems, Vitarana\ninstantly became defensive, and regretted that the international\ncommunity did not understand the situation on the ground. He\npraised the President as being \"admirable\" on improved relations\nwith countries such as Iran, Libya and China when the West wouldn't\nhelp them finish the war against the LTTE, since the West was so\nweak now economically speaking. He thanked the U.S. for pushing Sri\nLanka closer to China which represented the economic future.\nBUTENIS<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"