By Gordon Rayner | The Telegraph
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“Waite said that much of (the government) and ministerial attention to Sri Lanka is due to the ‘very vocal’ Tamil diaspora in the UK, numbering over 300,000, who have been protesting in front of parliament since 6 April,” wrote Richard Mills, a political officer at the US Embassy in London.
“He said that with UK elections on the horizon and many Tamils living in Labour constituencies with slim majorities, the government is paying particular attention to Sri Lanka, with Miliband recently remarking to Waite that he was spending 60 per cent of his time at the moment on Sri Lanka.”
Mr Mills sent the cable to Washington in May 2009, at a time when more than 1,000 civilians per month were being killed as the 26-year civil war neared its end.
On April 29, a few days before the cable was sent, the foreign secretary visited Sri Lanka with his French opposite number, Bernard Kouchner.
He told Parliament the trip had been “to highlight the need to bring the conflict to an end in a way that minimises further civilian casualties; to press the case for the humanitarian relief effort to be ratcheted up, as the UN and EU have been calling for, and to make clear the need for a long-term political settlement that meets the aspirations of all communities in Sri Lanka.”
On May 4, 2009, Des Browne, the prime minister’s special envoy to Sri Lanka, visited the country as part of a cross-party group, and a few days later Mr Waite told Mr Mills that Britain would continue with its “concerted drive to achieve a fully inclusive political settlement” on the island.
The war between the Tamil Tigers and the government finally ended when the Tamils admitted defeat on May 17.
In the final weeks of the war Britain was pressing the Sri Lankan government to issue visas to foreign humanitarian aid workers and for them to be given access to thousands of refugees and to others trapped in the war zone.
A Foreign Office spokesman said it was “perfectly normal” for a member of its staff to set out the political background to British foreign policy to diplomats from other countries.
Mr Browne denied the push for humanitarian aid was driven by “party politics”, telling the Guardian newspaper: “There were over 100,000 people stuck in a war zone. It doesn’t take a lot of explaining why we were concerned with the issue.
“Of course it had an effect here. There were tens of thousands of people on our streets and there was a presence in Parliament Square.
“There was a lot of concern, but it wasn’t restricted to one party. Those people lived in everybody’s constituencies.”
Mr Miliband was unavailable for comment.
© The Telegraph
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