![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/ranil-karu-colombotelegraph.jpg\" "\\"ranil-")
<\/a>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<\/p><\/div>\n
The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d and written on January 23, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.<\/p>\n
The Ambassador wrote \u201cAmbassador 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\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmbassador 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.\u201d ambassador Blake further wrote.<\/p>\n
Ambassador Blake wrote \u201cWickremesinghe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Placing a comment ambassador Blake wrote \u201cWickremesinghe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read the\u00a0cable below\u00a0for further details;<\/p>\n
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000130\n\nSIPDIS\n\nSIPDIS\n\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INS\n\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 01\/22\/2017\nTAGS: PGOV<\/a> PTER<\/a> PHUM<\/a> MOPS<\/a> PREL<\/a> CE<\/a>\nSUBJECT: SRI LANKA: OPPOSITION LEADER SEEKS TO MEND PARTY\nRIFT, MAYBE TOO LATE\n\nREF: A) COLOMBO 102 B) COLOMBO 115 C) COLOMBO 127\n\nClassified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d).\n\n\u00b6<\/a>1. (C) SUMMARY: Ambassador met opposition leader\nWickremesinghe on January 22 to urge him to seek common\nground with his UNP critics, including leading dissident Karu\nJayasuriya. Our only interest was in supporting the peace\nprocess, Ambassador noted, but the current round of political\nwrangling threatened to derail the MoU between the major\nparties (ref a). Wickremesinghe noted he had tried to\naccommodate party reformers by appointing them to party\npositions and acceding to their request for a Special Session\non March 17 to reform the party constitution. He appeared\nunsure that he could hold his party together, however. Ranil\nobserved that the President's strategy of attracting\ncrossovers risked destabilizing the entire political\nstructure in the South. He noted that the President's SLFP,\nthe JVP and the SLMC were all having cohesion problems as a\nresult of government pressure tactics. End summary.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>2. (C) In a meeting on January 22, Ambassador urged leader\nof the UNP and the opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe to\nexercise leadership by reconciling with the dissidents in his\nparty, sharing some power, and allowing more intra-party\ndemocracy. The U.S.'s only interest was in assisting the\npeace process, the Ambassador said, but we saw this as\nendangered by the ongoing internal political infighting. The\npeace process needed the SLFP-UNP MoU to drive it forward,\nand this required that both major parties remain strong and\nviable.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>3. (C) Wickremesinghe noted that he planned to speak to Karu\nJayasuriya, the nominal leader of the UNP dissident faction,\nlater that day. He said that he needed to consult further\nwith the entire senior UNP leadership. However, he did not\nthink that the majority of his party could agree to the idea\nof accepting ministerial posts. Karu and the other potential\ncross-overs had an obligation to make the case for their\nstrategy to the party as a whole, he added. Since Jayasuriya\nhad openly expressed a lack of confidence in him, the subject\nof Karu resuming his previous function as deputy party leader\nwas not likely to come up, Ranil thought.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>4. (C) Wickremesinghe defended his approach to intra-party\ndemocracy, saying that he had accepted the dissidents'\nproposal of holding a Special Session to amend the party\nconstitution on March 17. Before then, a consultation\nprocess needed to take place with the various party organs\nabout their composition, and how the members are selected.\nThe party's Political Affairs Committee, representing a broad\ncross section of the various tendencies in the party, would\nmeet in February to draft proposals for the various reforms.\nHowever, most of the party would have problems accepting that\nthose who wanted to leave it should participate materially in\nthe reform process.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>5. (C) Ranil noted that he had tried to accommodate\ndivergent views by nominating most of the dissidents to\nimportant party positions. However, it was difficult to\nconsummate this reconciliation because the dissidents had yet\nto withdraw a court case they had filed against party\ndecisions. In any case, the UNP realized that it would lose\na significant part of its talent pool if the crossovers took\nplace. Still, he said the party base was holding together\nand would continue to support the UNP in future elections.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>6. (C) Wickremesinghe said that although he was naturally\nconcerned about the future of his party, at the moment he was\nmore preoccupied with rescuing the MoU between the SLFP and\nthe UNP. Under its terms, he noted, the UNP had committed to\nworking with the government on the peace process and had\nagreed to support it on the budget and not to introduce a\nno-confidence motion for two years. The President, by\n\nCOLOMBO 00000130 002 OF 002\n\nfailing to work with him to implement the MoU, and pursuing\nthe crossover strategy to assure a narrow parliamentary\nmajority, was actually destabilizing the entire political\nsystem in the South, Wickremesinghe said. Not just the UNP\nwas having problems, but the JVP was experiencing internal\ndifficulties as well in deciding whether to continue to\nsupport the government. He also mentioned the pressure that\nthe Sri Lankan Muslim Congress was under from the government\nside (ref b).\n\n\u00b6<\/a>7. (C) Ambassador underlined our point that only a solid\nparliamentary majority in favor of a strong peace proposal\nwould give the government a mandate to conduct serious\nnegotiations to end the conflict. Only the MoU had the\npotential to deliver such a majority. Ranil agreed, but\nreiterated that once the government violated the MoU by\ntaking on the crossovers as ministers, the UNP would not be\nable to continue to implement the MoU. The government should\nnot believe that it could recruit the JVP for a serious peace\nprocess, he added; the ultra-nationalists would keep\nattacking any reasonable proposals for compromise with the\nLTTE.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>8. (C) Wickremesinghe believed that the government's back-up\nplan might be to call early elections in order to ensure\nitself a majority. The UNP was ready to fight an early\nelection, he said, but as a practical matter, a ceasefire was\na necessary condition for free and fair elections to proceed.\n It would not be possible to carry out credible polls in the\nNorth and East under war conditions, and the LTTE might\nattack election activities in the South as well. However,\nRanil thought it would be appropriate to elect a new\nParliament with a mandate to pass the constitutional reforms\nrequired for a settlement. Still, a ceasefire was the\nprerequisite for any such development.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>9. (C) Wickremesinghe said that he was convinced the LTTE\nwould seek a way to strike back after the government's\ncapture of Vakarai (ref c). He thought the LTTE was\nfollowing a strategy of tying down government security forces\nassets in the East, but he was not sure what the LTTE's\nriposte would be. The attack on the supply ship near Jaffna\nshowed that the LTTE was possibly trying to isolate Jaffna\nbefore striking there. The government and the international\ncommunity should be trying to engage LTTE thinkers, for\nexample, by arranging a visit with Nepalese Maoists to study\nthe resolution of Nepal's conflict. However, the death of\nLTTE ideologist and chief negotiator Anton Balasingham left a\nvoid. There was now a dearth of interlocutors in the LTTE\none could approach in this way.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>10. (C) COMMENT: Wickremesinghe appeared just as composed,\nbut somewhat less self-assured than usual. He clearly was\nfeeling under pressure and realized he might not win the\nbattle to hold his party together. His efforts to reach out\nto the disaffected in his party nevertheless strike us as\nperhaps too little, too late. On the other hand, if he can\nmanage to swallow some of his legendary pride, admit some\nmistakes, and make a frank appeal for unity to Jayasuriya and\nother would-be crossovers, he might still fend off the\napproaching UNP train wreck. (In fact, septel will report\nthat early readouts on the outcome of the meeting with\nJayasuriya indicate Ranil fell short of his goal.) We\ncontinue to think that the realization of Basil Rajapaksa's\nplan to provide the government with a simple majority in\nparliament is more likely to detract from the peace process\nthan to reinforce it. There is considerable risk that the\ngovernment hardliners will seek to press the military\nadvantage from their recent success in Vakarai. They may\nthen try to cash in on the expected political bonus for the\nPresident's party by calling new elections before the country\n- or the peace process ) are ready.\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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