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Tamilnation > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Conflict Resolution - Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka > Norwegian Peace Initiative > Third Session of Peace Talks in Oslo & Aftermath > Report on Visit to Sri Lanka - David Feith
Report on Visit to North and East
David Feith - 14 December 2002
I visited north and east
Sri Lanka as a representative of
Australian Volunteers International between 11-22 November 2002. The main objective of the
visit was to investigate and assess the possibility of assigning
Australian Volunteers to live and work in north and east Sri Lanka.
This report is intended to more broadly describe the situation in
northern Sri Lanka at this transitional time.
The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agreed to a cessation of hostilities at the end of 2001 and signed a MOU in February 2002. Since that time, there has been a period without war. A permanent peace settlement has not yet been reached, but the war has stopped, and there have been several rounds of talks between the government and the LTTE, facilitated by Norway, which have proceeded well, according to all reports. Everyone we spoke to in Sri Lanka expressed the view that both sides are committed to the peace process, and that neither side will revert to warfare. Several people expressed the view that there will be problems and difficulties, but they will be addressed politically, not militarily.
We first traveled by plane from Colombo to Jaffna. There are now 3 different commercial domestic airlines operating flights between Colombo and Jaffna, departing from Ratmalana airport, which is an Air Force base. There was a stop at an army checkpoint as we drove in to Ratmalana, but apart from that the procedure was straightforward, and normal. We checked in, waited in the waiting hall, boarded the plane, and flew to Jaffna.
The plane landed at
Pillaly air strip, which is surrounded by another large army camp.
We walked off the air strip to a corrugated iron shed that
served as a terminal, waited for our luggage, and departed.
Jaffna peninsula
Jaffna is a peninsula of
land about the size of Wilson�s promontory in Victoria.
It is flat, and surrounded by lagoons and the sea.
Traditionally and historically Jaffna has been an important
center of Tamil culture and learning, and for many years it was
controlled and run by the LTTE. .
In
February 1995, during the last ceasefire, I traveled to the
north of Sri Lanka, to investigate the possibility of assigning
volunteers there.
I stayed for some days in Jaffna, which at that time was
under the control of the LTTE.
I found a society cut off from the outside world by the war
and the economic embargo imposed by the government, but great
interest in having Australian volunteers to go and live and work
there.
When the peace talks broke down, and war resumed in April
Australian Volunteers International had to suspend any plans
of sending volunteers to the north for many years.
Later in 1995 the Sri Lankan
army carried out a major military offensive, and took control of the
Jaffna peninsula.
At that time, the LTTE and 90% of the population moved out of
the peninsula to the Vanni region, and later many people gradually
returned.
The population of the Jaffna peninsular prior to the war was
around 900,000, and is now estimated to be around 500,000.
Jaffna town now has many
shops and businesses operating. The streets are clean, and the
people are neat and well dressed.
In the market and shops a great range of goods is available,
many items having been brought by truck from Colombo.
Most consumer items are available, and more are appearing
every day � recent additions include bacon, chicken pieces and apple
juice.
Since the cessation of hostilities and the signing of an
agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, there has
been free movement of goods and people between the southern parts of
Sri Lanka and Jaffna, so many more goods are available in Jaffna
than were before, and many new shops and businesses are opening.
There
are now commercial Internet shops from where one can access email.
A Tamil man on the plane told us he was going to open the
first supermarket in Jaffna.
There are parts of
Jaffna where the destruction of the war is very obvious � in some
areas all the buildings have been destroyed, and only ruined and
broken walls remain of houses and office buildings. However in other
parts of Jaffna there has been very little damage � in some suburbs
the streets are lined with comfortable looking solid brick houses
with well-established gardens, and no signs of damage.
It is similar throughout the peninsular.
We visited some areas that were totally destroyed � in the
Thenmarachi / Chavakacheri area it looked like all the houses and
shops had been destroyed.
This was an area directly in the line of the Sri Lankan army
as it moved from the Pallaly base towards Jaffna town.
However other towns in the peninsular looked as if they had
suffered no physical damage.
Throughout the
peninsular there are many army camps still in use, surrounded by
fences and barbed or razor wire, and the army is still obviously
present. There are army checkpoints in many places, with soldiers
holding machine guns standing around, observing, and soldiers in
uniform are visibly present in many places but they don�t stop or
harass people as they used to.
There are many
challenges facing the community in north Sri Lanka; the ones we
heard discussed the most are de-mining and addressing the needs of
the internally displaced people.
During the war, thousands of mines were laid � an estimated
600,000 mines in the Jaffna peninsular, and an estimated 1.5 million
in the Vanni, the area of northern Sri Lanka excluding the Jaffna
peninsular, which is controlled by the LTTE.
In Jaffna the Mine Action Group is working on a range of
activities to deal with mines � mine education, risk assessment,
de-mining and victim assistance.
There are many places that have signs up warning of mines,
some areas are fenced off with mine warning signs, and there are
risks of mines still remaining in unidentified places.
The issue of displaced
people affects all parts of northeast Sri Lanka.
During the decades of conflict thousands of people were
forced to leave their homes, and many were repeatedly forced to flee
their homes.
At some times of the conflict Tamils fled to Jaffna from
Colombo and other parts of the island, at other times they fled away
from Jaffna to the Vanni.
Tamils in the East fled to the north, and vice versa.
Now that the ceasefire has been in place for some months some
people are beginning to return home.
However because many areas are still mined, for some
returning home can mean risking mine injuries.
Many international
organisations are working in Jaffna, including UNDP, UNHCR, ICRC,
MSF, UNICEF, GTZ,
Save the Children, FORUT, CARE International, Action Contre
de Faim, HALO trust.
They are assisting local organisations to work on de-mining,
return of displaced people, provision of medical services, and other
areas of work.
The Vanni, under control of the LTTE
The Vanni region has been under the control of the LTTE for many years, and in some respects it is like a separate state � to enter the Vanni region one passes through a Government check point, then a small strip of No-Man�s Land, then the LTTE checkpoint. The Vanni roughly comprises 3 districts � Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, and is the LTTE heartland, where the LTTE leader Mr. Pirabaharan is based. Consequently it has been severely devastated by numerous government military operations over many years. The government also imposed an embargo on goods being moved into this area for many years, and so until recently many goods and services were not available here.
Signs of the devastation of war are widespread � in towns and villages many of the buildings are ruined shells; in the rural areas many of the coconut and Palmyra trees have lost their crowns through shelling or artillery fire, and their trunks stand as forlorn monuments to battle. In the Vanni, as on the Jaffna peninsular, there are many signs warning of mines, and mined areas fenced off.
The legacy of the war is
also seen in the number of orphans, whose parents were killed in the
war, the number of people seen walking around with artificial legs,
and the high level of malnutrition.
However it is clear that since the cessation of hostilities and the opening up of the A9 highway life is returning to a semblance of normality here. Buildings are being repaired, shops are opening up with a range of goods available, roads are being repaired, and mines are being removed. I was advised that the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) had won the contract to re-build the A9 highway; and that soon phone lines would be re-connected to Kilinochchi.
We met with various
NGOs in the Vanni region, and spent time visiting areas where two
NGOs in particular are working, the Tamils Rehabilitation
Organisation (TRO) and Sewa Lanka. TRO is a large NGO focused
on the Northeast of Sri Lanka, with a range of activities; it has a
de-mining unit, and is also working with internally displaced
people, and vulnerable groups, particularly women, children and the
disabled. Sewa Lanka is
a large NGO that works in both the south and the northeast of Sri
Lanka, and is working mainly on the social mobilisation aspect of
the large North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), funded
by the World Bank. Both
these NGOs, as well as others, expressed strong interest in having
Australian Volunteers come and work with them in the north of Sri
Lanka.
In Jaffna and the Vanni region
we met with a range of organisations and individuals, including
NGOs, international organisations, government officials, university
staff, foreign volunteers, the LTTE administration and many local
people.
Everyone expressed strong interest in having Australian
volunteers come to work in the north of Sri Lanka.
Some of the areas identified by people we met with for people
with particular skills are: English teaching, irrigation
engineering, Agricultural development, vocational training in
building, electronics, mechanics and other areas, fisheries
processing, small business development, Information Technology,
computer training, Alternative Technology, livestock development,
civil engineering, project management, geology, meteorology, health
services, physiotherapy.
Many Tamil organisations and individuals are working hard to
plan for the future, and meetings were going on to feed information
into the peace process talks and meetings with international donors.
Everyone in northeast
Sri Lanka we met is hopeful that the peace process will continue,
and a permanent settlement will be agreed on.
There is a degree of caution, because of the history of broken
promises and failed negotiations, but everyone seems to feel that
this time it looks hopeful, and both parties are genuinely committed
to the peace process.
Eastern Sri Lanka
In Trincomalee life
seems to be continuing pretty normally, and there are now no
security checks on the road to and from town.
Unlike in the north, where the majority of the population is
Tamil, in Trincomalee the population is roughly evenly divided into
Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities.
Because of this there is possibly greater risk of security
incidents. I was advised of a security issue that had arisen some
weeks earlier which had resulted in a curfew being imposed for 3 or
4 days.
Some people said that it
will be in the border regions � the areas where Tamil and Sinhalese,
or Tamil and Muslim villages are next to each other � where security
issues could arise.
As the thousands of internally displaced people return to
their original villages there will be problems and conflicts.
Someone expressed the situation like this � if there are 2
villages in which people have been killed by people in the other
villages it will be difficult for the relatives of the dead to
reconcile having people from the other village returning to live
next to them again.
So far the emphasis of many NGOs and other organizations has
been on relief and rehabilitation - there is also a need for
reconciliation work.
Security
Almost everyone we spoke to in
Sri Lanka thought that the government and the LTTE are genuinely
committed to continuing the peace process through negotiations.
Most people we met are hopeful that the peace process will
continue, and a permanent settlement will be agreed on.
There is a degree of caution and scepticism, but everyone
seems to feel that this time it looks more positive than ever
before, and both parties are genuinely committed to the peace
process.
A range of factors were offered in discussions to explain
this belief that the peace process will work.
One factor was the LTTE attack on the air force base next to
the country�s one international airport in 2001 � this had a major
impact on tourism, with a large number of tours cancelled, and a
significant affect on the economy.
I was told that following this attack the business community
told the government that they had to end the war � the country could
no longer afford it.
Also significant is the events of September 11, and the
banning of the LTTE in the US, UK, and Australia, making it more
difficult for the LTTE to operate internationally.
After speaking to a
large range of people my conclusion is that it is not likely that
war will resume.
There are however other (less dangerous) security risks.
The risks caused by the large numbers of mines in the north
will continue for some time.
De-mining is occurring, but progress is slow in relation to
the overall numbers.
Many of the mined areas are fenced off and marked with signs
in English, Tamil, Sinhalese and pictures; however there are
possibly still other areas that are not marked.
There are enormous needs in the north and east of Sri Lanka, areas that have been devastated by decades of war. There are material needs, technical needs and human resource needs. Many Sri Lankan organisations are working to address these needs, but they are also looking to the international community for assistance. Norway has made a valuable contribution to peace by acting as mediator in the peace negotiations, and it is now also up to other parts of the international community to assist in building confidence in the peace process; and in assisting in the rehabilitation and reconciliation work.