Sri Lankans Hit By War, Tsunami, Flee New Violence
Reuters
April 23, 2006
By Peter Apps
KANNIYA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Chelaiah Sunralachumi fled her home twice and lost her husband and two children in Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war.
Then, the 2004 tsunami devastated her refugee camp and she moved once again.
Now, the 60-year-old woman is again heading back into the jungles of northeast Sri Lanka, fleeing new violence that is shattering relations between ethnic Sinhalese and Tamil communities and threatens the island's 2002 ceasefire.
"Where else to go?" she asked Reuters in her native Tamil language, tears running down her cheeks. "I've left my home three times in a row. What is the point of living here?"
Exact numbers are hard to come by and change daily, but aid workers and officials say several thousand people have fled their homes after suspected Tamil Tiger rebel attacks were followed by ethnic clashes.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whose two decade fight for a Tamil homeland has killed some 64,000 people on both sides, deny recent attacks on troops. But it is almost impossible to find anyone who believes them.
Whatever the aim of the attacks in the fragile northeast where Tamils, Muslims and the majority Sinhalese live side by side, they have only ramped up ethnic tension.
Diplomats say they have almost given up hope that talks in Switzerland between the Tigers and government, once scheduled for last week and now postponed indefinitely, will ever take place. The peace process seems completely deadlocked, they say.
In Chelaiah's village, Kanniya, on the outskirts of the northeastern port town of Trincomalee, the turning point was when 16-year-old Pukiyarusu Baskaran disappeared on Friday.
EMPTY VILLAGE
The military denies involvement in the incident, but local Tamil residents say they heard screams coming from a nearby army camp. The next day the teenager was found on the road, shot in the head and covered in blood.
"We don't like the LTTE attacking the military," said Methodist minister Father Sylvester Terence outside the Baskaran family home, a corrugated iron and mud shelter that has been their home since the civil war.
"We don't like people dying. But this drives people to the LTTE. There is no-one else supporting the Tamils."
Baskaran's mother wailed over the body at the hut's entrance, while neighbours packed their belongings to leave.
The nearby village of Nadasapuram is already empty. Residents fled after a Sinhalese mob burnt several homes following suspected LTTE attacks near Trincomalee several days ago.
The houses, some still being built to re-settle those displaced in the war, stand deserted. Some are burnt, others abandoned, belongings strewn inside. A few policemen, soldiers, cattle, chickens and dogs are all that remain.
Most of those who flee their homes end up in school buildings. At Varathayanagar, some 20 km (12 miles) west of Trincomalee, there are already some 650 people, aid workers say.
Food, water and other aid supplies are getting through, some diverted from the post-tsunami effort after violence rose sharply two weeks ago. More than 100 people sleep in a room smaller than a tennis court, but no one wants to leave.
"We are o.k., but we cannot stay here for long," says Abirany Krishnamoorthy, a 27-year-old mother of two. "We want to go home but it all depends on the peace talks."
Chelaiah cannot even find anyone to blame.
"How can I find fault with either party?" she asks, as she walks into the jungle once again, carrying her possessions in plastic bags.
"The LTTE is rising up. But army is also doing the same."
April 23, 2006
By Peter Apps
KANNIYA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Chelaiah Sunralachumi fled her home twice and lost her husband and two children in Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war.
Then, the 2004 tsunami devastated her refugee camp and she moved once again.
Now, the 60-year-old woman is again heading back into the jungles of northeast Sri Lanka, fleeing new violence that is shattering relations between ethnic Sinhalese and Tamil communities and threatens the island's 2002 ceasefire.
"Where else to go?" she asked Reuters in her native Tamil language, tears running down her cheeks. "I've left my home three times in a row. What is the point of living here?"
Exact numbers are hard to come by and change daily, but aid workers and officials say several thousand people have fled their homes after suspected Tamil Tiger rebel attacks were followed by ethnic clashes.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whose two decade fight for a Tamil homeland has killed some 64,000 people on both sides, deny recent attacks on troops. But it is almost impossible to find anyone who believes them.
Whatever the aim of the attacks in the fragile northeast where Tamils, Muslims and the majority Sinhalese live side by side, they have only ramped up ethnic tension.
Diplomats say they have almost given up hope that talks in Switzerland between the Tigers and government, once scheduled for last week and now postponed indefinitely, will ever take place. The peace process seems completely deadlocked, they say.
In Chelaiah's village, Kanniya, on the outskirts of the northeastern port town of Trincomalee, the turning point was when 16-year-old Pukiyarusu Baskaran disappeared on Friday.
EMPTY VILLAGE
The military denies involvement in the incident, but local Tamil residents say they heard screams coming from a nearby army camp. The next day the teenager was found on the road, shot in the head and covered in blood.
"We don't like the LTTE attacking the military," said Methodist minister Father Sylvester Terence outside the Baskaran family home, a corrugated iron and mud shelter that has been their home since the civil war.
"We don't like people dying. But this drives people to the LTTE. There is no-one else supporting the Tamils."
Baskaran's mother wailed over the body at the hut's entrance, while neighbours packed their belongings to leave.
The nearby village of Nadasapuram is already empty. Residents fled after a Sinhalese mob burnt several homes following suspected LTTE attacks near Trincomalee several days ago.
The houses, some still being built to re-settle those displaced in the war, stand deserted. Some are burnt, others abandoned, belongings strewn inside. A few policemen, soldiers, cattle, chickens and dogs are all that remain.
Most of those who flee their homes end up in school buildings. At Varathayanagar, some 20 km (12 miles) west of Trincomalee, there are already some 650 people, aid workers say.
Food, water and other aid supplies are getting through, some diverted from the post-tsunami effort after violence rose sharply two weeks ago. More than 100 people sleep in a room smaller than a tennis court, but no one wants to leave.
"We are o.k., but we cannot stay here for long," says Abirany Krishnamoorthy, a 27-year-old mother of two. "We want to go home but it all depends on the peace talks."
Chelaiah cannot even find anyone to blame.
"How can I find fault with either party?" she asks, as she walks into the jungle once again, carrying her possessions in plastic bags.
"The LTTE is rising up. But army is also doing the same."
posted by Unknown | 5:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home