WikiLeaks: EU Acknowledged The Possibility Of A Backlash By LTTE Front Groups In Europe
February 24, 2014
“Commission Director for Asia James Moran told Owen that he would travel to India the week of June 15 to discuss plans for the next EU-India summit, tentatively scheduled for November, 2009. Owen briefed Moran on Washington’s preliminary thinking about a U.S.-India strategic dialogue. On Sri Lanka, Moran noted the size and strength of the Tamil diaspora in Europe and acknowledged the possibility of a backlash by LTTE front groups in Europe to the LTTE’s military defeat in Sri Lanka. Moran said that Colombo was not cooperating with the EU’s ongoing human rights investigation, which would inform its decision about renewing Sri Lanka’s GSP status.” the US Embassy Brussels informed Washington.
James Moran
A classified diplomatic cable which details a meeting on United States – European Union on South and Central Asia, just after the Sri Lanka’s war. The Colombo Telegraph found the related ‘Confidential’ US diplomatic cable dated June 22, 2009 from the WikiLeaks database.
In a separate meeting with Owen [ South and Central Asia Bureau Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Owen], Sri Lankan Ambassador to the EU Ravinatha Aryasinha expressed concern that the EU was ‘overplaying its hand’ regarding Sri Lanka and said he had encouraged key EU officials to recalibrate their relationship with Colombo. Aryasinha asked for USG help in encouraging the EU to designate LTTE front organizations, which he saw as a threat to Europe as well as Sri Lanka.
EU made big mistake in banning LTTE: Henricsson, former head of SLMM
[TamilNet, Monday, 24 February 2014, 07:58 GMT]It was a big mistake for the EU to ban the LTTE. There was pressure from the USA and the Sri Lankan government, said Major General Ulf Henricsson, who was heading the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in 2006. “I would say that was a big mistake, because it stopped the possibility to get a peaceful solution and negotiation,” Henricsson told TamilNet in an interview in Sweden on Saturday. Acting on solutions now, compared to Bosnia, he cited lack of interest in the West. He was stressing on the importance of India in acting on the question, but said that India is not interested in getting engaged. China and India and other countries are not interested in having the international community on that territory, he added.
