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SRI LANKA: Political Tsunami Threatens Rebuilding

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Jun 25 2005 (IPS) - Almost six months to the day since devastating waves savaged most of its coastline, Sri Lanka braced for a political tsunami following the signing of an agreement between the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers to distribute aid.

Almost six months to the day since devastating waves savaged most of its coastline, Sri Lanka braced for a political tsunami following the signing of an agreement between the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers to distribute aid.

The parties signed the pact Friday and the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga readied itself for public protests and outrage from political parties opposing the "joint mechanism", including some of its own coalition partners.

The government lost its parliamentary majority Jun. 16 when the Marxist People’s Liberation Front (PLF) pulled out following Kumaratunga’s refusal to rescind the proposal to work with the Tigers, who control much of the country’s northeast, to distribute aid.

Calling the deal a handover of sovereignty to the Tigers, the PLF threatened massive public protests but there was only a single demonstration in the capital Colombo on Friday.

However, two other parties of Kumaratunga’s UPFA coalition voiced their displeasure at the deal. Leaders of both the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the National Unity Alliance criticised the way the proposal was tabled in parliament.

But for those left destitute by the waves, the agreement came none too soon. "The further the government delays signing the mechanism, the further we get delayed in receiving funds. We do not care who opposes or favours the joint mechanism as long as we get what we deserve," said tsunami victim Hettiarchchige Premathunge.

Premathunge hails from Pereliya, in Sri Lanka’s south, where more than 1,500 people died when tidal waves swept aside a packed commuter train. He lost all his fishing equipment and has so far received no help to recommence his work.

The fisherman told IPS he had expected that the three-billion-dollar pledge of assistance from donors would have enabled him to get back to work.

Despite a half year elapsing since the tragedy, which left 31,229 Sri Lankans dead and a further 4,100 missing, the United Nations announced this week that half a million people here are still registered as tsunami displaced. The natural disaster also left 275,000 unemployed, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). One-third of those worked in the fishing industry.

"16,479 fishing crafts were damaged or destroyed, which represents 50 percent of the Sri Lankan fleet," according to the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Of 54,266 transitional shelters needed, only 31,000 have been completed so far. "9,480 families were still living in tents as of Jun. 8," added the office.

More than 77,000 new houses must be built to replace those destroyed by the waves, according to government estimates. Reports submitted at a donor meeting in May said that more than one-quarter of the tsunami victims were living below the national poverty line of 1,423 rupees (14 U.S. dollars) per month.

The reconstruction effort has been dogged by bureaucratic bottlenecks and political bickering, despite the massive inflow of foreign aid and volunteers. Donor agencies and relief workers have complained that the lack of a final national reconstruction plan and a deal between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as the Tigers are formally known, has slowed rebuilding.

It was the Tigers who first mooted the idea of a joint mechanism to handle tsunami aid in areas under their rule. Once facilitators from Norway – the nation that brokered peace talks between the rebels and government in 2002 – were able to get the two sides to agree in principal to a plan, it received massive international backing.

The Tigers launched their war for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil population more than two decades ago. The violent uprising has left more than 65,000 dead.

This week’s deal is the first big development since talks between Colombo and the Tigers stalled in April 2003. A ceasefire has nevertheless held since February 2002.

U.N. special tsunami envoy, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, endorsed the mechanism during a visit to the shattered east coast in May. "I do want the reconstruction effort to continue," he said, adding that the pact would allow the equitable distribution of aid.

"It is of major political significance that the parties after nearly a half year of efforts have signed the agreement on the joint management structure," Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen said from Oslo yesterday.

The deal also has support among tsunami victims in the south. "People in the north have also been affected by the tsunami; we cannot oppose the intervention of the LTTE," said SP Liyanage, also from Pereliya.

Despite losing its parliamentary majority, Kumaratunga’s UPFA can survive in the short term as it has secured conditional support from two main opposition parties, the United National Party and the Tamil National Alliance.

Her position would be further strengthened if Muslim parties agree that Muslims have received fair representation within the mechanism.

However, the reconstruction effort itself could come undone if PLF-led protests take off in earnest, and if political opportunism gets the better of opposition support for Kumaratunga.

The PLF has already said it will take legal action against the mechanism to accompany its planned public protests. "We can not allow the country to be sold," said PLF Parliamentary Group Leader Wimal Weeravansha.

The party is also upset that donors who contribute funds under the mechanism will have observer status in regional committees.

Joining the PLF protests will be the Jathika Hela Urumaya, represented in parliament by eight Buddhist monks. The party has also said it will forward an impeachment motion against Kumaratunga.

One of its MP monks went on a hunger strike against the mechanism, which ended only after Kumaratunga’s assurances to the chief prelates three weeks ago. The president met with the chief monks the day before the deal was inked in an attempt to gain support from the influential clergy.

Kumaratunga now also has a chance to fulfil a pledge she made when she was first elected president in 1994 – to find a political solution to the country’s costly civil conflict. The president has said that the mechanism could be the basis for a permanent solution.

Petersen also took an optimistic stance: "This is the first time in over two decades of armed conflict that the parties have agreed to cooperate in a political administrative structure that comprises the national, regional and district levels".