Reihana Mohideen, Sri Lanka
Kirinda, a small coastal fishing village in the south, was flattened by the tsunami waves. A large cargo ship had been swept in and lay in the middle of town. There was debris everywhere: collapsed homes and buildings, furniture, clothes, school books and cooking pots. The Sri Lankan army troops were watching bulldozers clearing debris, guns casually slung over their shoulders.
It was a wasteland with even the familiar coconut palm trees uprooted and flung about like sticks. Surprisingly, a sturdy mosque remains intact having withstood the tsunami onslaught. It was Friday, and people were gathering for afternoon prayers. This was a Muslim and Sinhalese village.
A few yards away from us, a small group had gathered around a man who was writing down the names of his sisters on a wooden board. Five of them had drowned. He was perched on the rubble which was once his home, working on a rough plaque he was going to place on the site in their memory.
A young man explained that many people had come and gone taking photographs and collecting information. "They come and go", he said, "and we are left without any help". Even the Indian army has arrived just that day, he said. A few yards down the road we saw a group of around a dozen Indian military personnel. The Sri Lankan soldier explained that they were "military doctors".
In Hambantota town in the south, the survivors we spoke to say that a majority of those who drowned in their community were women. We found it hard to run, one woman said, pointing to her ankle-length wrap-around clothes. Others explained that women carried the children and therefore could not run fast.
In one of the camps in Batticaloa, a woman described how she lost one of her children. "I had to decide whether to save my old mother or both my children", she said. She carried her mother in one arm and tried to carry both the children in the other, but one child slipped and drowned. As she tells her story, the other women in the camp weep along with her.
Incredibly, in the midst of this sorrow there is also some laughter. In a camp in Wahara in the east, a woman laughs and tells how her neighbour, a man who is known as a "drunkard" in the community, had saved his family despite being drunk. Children laugh and pose for the cameras.
Recolonisation not relief
In the midst of this devastation and suffering, politics asserts itself with a vengeance. A morning "auto" (motorbike with sidecars) ride along Batticaloa lagoon, full of memories of my childhood holidays, brings me face to face with a group of British soldiers. People were flocking to the beach to watch two British warships with helicopters hovering over them. The British had just landed off the coast of Batticaloa town.
The Sri Lankan army has massively scaled up its presence in the east coast, including in areas under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealem. Several of the camps where displaced communities have sought temporary shelter also have troops stationed at the entrance. Some of these camps have both the Sri Lankan army troops and the LTTE-associated Tamil Relief Organisation members, stationed side-by-side, warily guarding the entrance.
An advanced contingent of US marines have already arrived and set up base in Katunayake, next to the International Airport, an hour's drive from the capital Colombo. A total of 1500 US marines will be stationed in the country. USS Bonhommie Richard, a multi-purpose assault ship, together with five hover crafts and 20 helicopters are a part of a US logistic base in the southern city of Galle, for operations in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. A large-scale militarisation of relief operations has begun. Some on the left have called it a recolonisation operation under the guise of relief.
The New Left Front, a broad left electoral coalition that includes the revolutionary socialist New Socialist Party (NSSP), has released a statement pointing out that the US will "use Sri Lanka's strategic location to consolidate its neo-colonial agenda all the more blatantly" and NLF leader Vickramabahu Karunathne has called on the left and democratic forces to protest against the arrival of foreign troops in Sri Lanka "under cover of relief and rescue operations".
According to Sarath Fernando of the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), "Since the US base in Diego Garcia is to be removed within the next few years, the US is looking for a safer route for oil transportation and this safe and cheaper route includes the Trincomalee harbour in [the north-east of] Sri Lanka."
The US considers the millions of displaced people a security risk because they are likely to be recruited by "terrorist organisations" in the camps. The US has included the LTTE in its list of international terrorist organisations. Foreign troops could be used to strengthen the operations of the Sri Lankan army, especially in the LTTE-controlled areas, in the north and the east.
Who controls the aid?
Large quantities of aid have already been pledged. According to treasury secretary Thusitha Jayasundera, as quoted in the January 17 Daily News, there is a possibility of Sri Lanka receiving nearly US$700 million in aid this year alone. The control of aid and aid distribution is becoming a critical political issue.
A special private sector-dominated Task Force to Rebuild the Nation has been set up. Its members include Sri Lanka's leading capitalists and it will be accountable only to the president. The nominations of scientists and academics to this task force have been rejected. Its mandate includes the development of a detailed infrastructure rebuilding action plan, the coordination and implementation of the plan through line ministries, government authorities, and state and private sector organisations. This private sector-heavy task force will also coordinate all donor assistance.
The strategy of the government in collaboration with the donor powers, such as the US and Japan, and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, is to use this opportunity to carry out the economic programs that international capital had been trying to introduce in Sri Lanka for many years.
The government has also announced, as a "safety" measure, that the fisher communities will be moved back at least 300 metres away from the sea. But at the same time, it has also announced that the beaches that were inhabited by these communities will be used for the construction of tourist hotels.
On the ground, the government is attempting to have the army control the relief operations and aid distribution by giving it special powers to take control of all relief operations. This has been strongly opposed by the LTTE and the left. Well-known left leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara, the general secretary of the Nava Samaja Party, has stated that the "takeover of the management of the welfare centres [or camps]... by the state armed forces is a blatant violation of [the] fundamental rights of refugees." Nanayakkara has called for the troops to be disarmed before being deployed in the camps.
The LTTE has pointed out that the control of aid distribution by the Sri Lankan armed forces will prevent the equitable distribution of aid, especially to LTTE-controlled areas. It has called for the LTTE and the TRO to be involved in all aspects of resettlement and reconstruction. This resulted in several organisations and even governments, such as the Italian government, donating aid directly to LTTE commanders for distribution. The government has now banned aid going directly to the LTTE.
"Our people will not accept the directive issued by Sri Lanka's President to hand over the management of tsunami welfare centres in the government-controlled areas in the northeast to the Sri Lanka Army.", said LTTE's Colonel Soosai. Several people's organisations in the east have organised camp committees and are insisting that all aid be given directly to these camp committees for distribution, thus ensuring that the people assert some level of control over these resources. With aid flowing into the country, there has been a huge increase in the number of expatriate aid workers coming into the country. Sleepy little village-towns like Batticaloa now have traffic jams full of flashy four-wheel drives. Computers, vans and trucks are being snapped up in a matter of hours. Hotel rooms and houses are jampacked with expatriate staff. Inevitably the cost of food and other basic necessities is spiraling. In Amparei, a village south of Batticaloa, locals complain that fresh vegetables have gone up in price. There is also talk of an increase in prostitution with the influx of UN personnel, as well as local and foreign army troops. A network of women's organisations based in Colombo has sent out teams of women to the south and east to monitor the situation in the camps. The World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank and several countries have agreed to provide some US $500 million as debt relief to the government. However, debt relief is inadequate. It's time to campaign hard for debt cancellation. International networks calling for debt cancellation by poor nations, such as Jubilee South and others, have circulated a petition asking "northern and international creditors" not to hold "the South peoples in bondage for debts that have in large part only contributed to their impoverishment and deprivation". For long-lasting relief for the tsunami victim nations and the peoples of the Third World, they have called not only for emergency relief operations and rehabilitation, but for the unconditional debt cancellation that will allow these nations to prioritise people's development programs.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, January 26, 2005.
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