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SRI LANKA: Scarcity, Insecurity as Army Besieges Rebel Hq

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Jul 14 2008 (IPS) - With the Sri Lankan army closing in on the Wanni, the headquarters of the Tamil Tigers in the north of the island, the embattled civilian population has been hit not only by scarcities but also by deep insecurity, according to humanitarian agencies remaining in the area.

The Wanni brings together the districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu (on the east coast) and parts of Vavuniya and Mannar (on the northwest coast).

In heavy offensives government troops have taken control of at least 80 percent of Mannar and Vavuniya, while the other two districts are still being held by the rebels. Last year, the Tigers lost much of the eastern district, including the harbor town of Trincomalee, to the Sri Lankan army.

Confident of winning his war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse told reporters in India on Sunday that he was now prepared to hold talks with the rebels, provided they disarm.

‘’I am ready today. Let them keep their weapons down because whenever they are weak they are ready for talks,’’ Rajapakse said in a statement reproduced in the Sri Lankan defence ministry’s website.

But, according to the LTTE, army offensives since mid-2006 are causing a grave humanitarian crisis, having displaced more than 100,000 people in the Wanni region. ‘’Many of the displaced are forced to live in the open space,” according to a statement posted on the website of the LTTE’s ‘peace secretariat.’

The LTTE has been fighting since the 1980s to carve out a separate homeland for the island nation’s Tamil minority, claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority.

In January, Rajapakse’s nationalist coalition government ended a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE brokered by Norway. After two rounds of peace talks held in Geneva and Oslo failed, the army launched a series of offensives into the Tamil-dominated north and east of the island.

According to humanitarian agencies, residents of the northern town of Kilinochchi, where the LTTE has its headquarters, are now using kerosene to run their motorcycles and a handful of cars. Many huddle inside homes at night as government planes bomb rebel targets at random in the town. Other are being prevented by the rebels from fleeing the area.

“We are seriously concerned about the situation of food, fuel and non-food items getting through. There are also dozens of people who have been displaced a multiple number of times,” a top U.N. humanitarian official who did not want to be named told IPS.

Other humanitarian workers say forced conscription of young people, closure of schools and outsiders visiting the Wanni being forcibly detained by the Tigers are other issues. “But the biggest humanitarian problem more than food is the insecurity and uncertainty,” one worker said.

The situation in the Wanni worsened earlier this month when the ‘A-9’ road giving access to the region was closed after the International Red Cross (ICRC) which runs the two access points – with the joint sanction of the government and the rebels – pulled out after government planes allegedly bombed a ‘location’ near the ICRC barriers.

On Jul. 7, the ICRC returned and reopened the road following assurances from both warring factions that ‘no-war’ zone would be respected. The closure of the road severely hit supplies in an area that is home to about 500,000 people.

S.B. Divaratne, Commissioner-General of Essential Services (CGES), who is responsible for coordinating supplies of essentials to the war-affected areas, told IPS that all food needs have been approved based on needs sent by senior government officials in the region. “In the past month there may have been shortages due to some transportation problems but now the trucks are moving.”

But a government official in Kilinochchi, who declined to be named, said over telephone that the shortages of food and fuel stocks were causing distress to the displaced people. He said claymore mines planted by unknown persons in the area had increased the risks. “Our officers are reluctant to go to certain areas due to this problem,” he said, citing the case where a regional government officer was killed after his motorcycle hit a mine on Jun. 29.

The rebels have accused the Sri Lankan army of triggering blasts within their territories using its Special Penetration Units. The military has acknowledged the existence of this special, guerrilla-type unit but says their targets are all rebel related rather than the civilian population or government workers.

A regular update provided by a coordinated group of U.N., local and international non-governmental organisations working in the Wanni and other war-affected areas shows that as of Jul. 3, some 170,736 people have been displaced since January 2006 from the three Wanni districts.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) country team said the security situation in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts remains tense and unpredictable with ‘’air raids becoming increasingly common throughout the region’’ and the ability to address humanitarian needs resulting from the intensified conflict ‘’seriously impaired by the limited material and stocks” in its report.

The report said stocks are low in the food, shelter and health sectors, while of further concern is the inability of agencies to reach vulnerable populations due to limited ‘fuel quotas.’ It said the movements and daily operations for the U.N. and NGO partners are impacted by the limited fuel supplies allowed into the Wanni. Other NGO sources said that even if the CGES approves requests by U.N. agencies and NGOs for food and fuel stocks, the quantities could get reduced based on ground-level decisions by military field commanders.

A senior U.N. humanitarian worker agrees that this is a problem. “There are different levels of clearance through the line ministries and the military and anything can change at some point,” she said. On Jul. 2, the CGES approved a total of 24,800 lt of diesel and 1,030 lt of petrol for a period of one month for eight U.N. agencies working in the Wanni, but this amount is totally inadequate.

“For the residents particularly in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, it’s a no win situation. They don’t know what to do while their movements are also restricted by the rebels and presence of (army-laid) claymore mines,” a journalist based in the area told IPS.

The journalist, who did not want to be identified because of strict reporting rules in the area, said residents finish off all work by 6 pm as there is no power and kerosene is restricted to light lamps. Students are unable to study at night and are more concerned about when the next air attack would come.

“We try to work with government agencies to ease the sufferings of the people. Some officials are extremely helpful and understanding but often the final decision on supplies are sometimes beyond their control,” the U.N. worker said.