Cablegate: Sri Lanka: Request for Information/Assistance

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000461

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER IZ CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION/ASSISTANCE
REGARDING POSSIBLE KILLING OF SRI LANKAN NATIONAL IN IRAQ

1. This is an action request. Please see Para 4.

2. On March 3 the Embassy received a letter from a Member of
Parliament requesting assistance with the repatriation of
remains of a Sri Lankan national believed to have been killed
in Iraq on February 11. According to the letter, Dewamullage
Prasanna Rohan Perera, who was employed by a private company
in Dammam, Saudi Arabia as a driver, was killed in Amzainda,
Iraq as he was driving a truckload of materials to an
unspecified location in Iraq. Information provided to his
next of kin by his co-workers and employer reportedly
indicates that Perera's body is being held at an "American
Base Hospital" in Baghdad. The letter identified Mohamed
Saeed Al Ajvi, P.O. Box 5827, Dammam 31432, Saudi Arabia, as
Mr. Perera's employer.

3. Poloff contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
determine what steps the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) may
have taken to verify the report and/or repatriate Mr.
Perera's remains. Sitara Khan of the Consular Department
reported that the GSL had requested its embassy in Kuwait to
follow up on the matter. According to Khan, the Sri Lankan
embassy in Kuwait had heard the same reports of Perera's
remains being in an American military hospital somewhere in
Iraq but had been unable to obtain further details or to
verify that information. Instead, the embassy suggested the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs contact the U.S. Embassy in
Colombo for help; Khan said her department had been awaiting
further instructions before doing so.

4. As we understand it, the GSL has received no official
notification from any source of Perera's death and is relying
on the (sketchy) information provided by Perera's co-workers.
Action Request: We would appreciate any information
addressees might provide on this report so that we may
respond to the MP and the Ministry. In the event that
Perera's remains are indeed at an American or Iraqi facility,
please advise how the GSL may repatriate the remains to Sri
Lanka.

5. Minimize considered.
LUNSTEAD

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