Stuck In Conflict, Sri Lanka Monitors Find New Roles
Reuters
Monday May 29, 07:05 AM
By Peter Apps
VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - For civilians caught on the front line of a growing conflict between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels, truce monitor Jukka Heiskanen's white jeep is almost the only reassurance around.
But with only four members of the Nordic-staffed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to cover a huge area of interlocking government and rebel territory around Vavuniya, moving from monitoring a ceasefire to active peacekeeping could be a step too far.
"It seems to help that we keep coming here," the Finnish homicide detective told Reuters as he visited a family who said their main breadwinner had been shot dead the previous week by members of the military near the northern town.
"It helps send a signal that we know what's going on here."
The government denies any involvement in deaths of Tamil civilians in the island's north, and says it is urgently investigating the cases. But the truce monitors believe the army is involved and police have made little progress.
The unarmed 60-person mission, made up of staff from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland, was designed to help solve disputes and highlight violations of the truce. It began work on the assumption that both sides were committed to peace.
The government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) maintain they are still committed to the truce that halted a two-decade civil war that killed more than 64,000 people.
But with violence rising and nearly 300 people dead in the past month, SLMM head Swedish Major-General Ulf Henricsson says they are now monitoring "a low-intensity war".
That war sees the monitors in Vavuniya -- led by a Finnish soldier and also comprising Finnish policeman Heiskanen, a Norwegian human rights specialist and a Danish aid worker -- increasingly on the front line.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BODY
Barely a day goes by without at least one of them visiting the district hospital's foul-smelling morgue to see a new dead body. They monitor suspected Tiger attacks on the military, possible murders by members of the armed forces and what they say are probably government attacks behind rebel lines.
They should also have visited the scene of government air strikes on rebel territory in the aftermath of a naval clash off the north coast, but the Tigers denied them access to what the military says was a rebel airstrip.
With the two sides blaming each other for a deteriorating situation, the SLMM is winning itself few friends.
The government is angry at being accused of deaths, while the Tigers -- who want to carve out a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east where they already run a de facto state -- are angry the SLMM chief said they had no rights at sea.
With the rebels threatening new naval attacks, they have warned the monitors they cannot vouch for their safety if they continue their work aboard navy ships.
The SLMM says it will not withdraw and is ordering flak jackets, helmets and perhaps even armoured vehicles. Additional police guards have been posted.
Few residents here will now risk openly talking to the SLMM Vavuniya team. When one household gives them information, the monitors must now visit another half dozen to conceal who is providing them with information.
CALMING PRESENCE
And while some combatants on both sides remain friendly, soldiers who normally smile at foreigners in civilian vehicles simply stare at the occupants of the SLMM's small fleet of well-marked, white jeeps.
But the monitors say they still get a good response from the increasingly scared civilian population, who say army harassment falls in areas where the SLMM shows a presence.
As well as vehicle patrols, the monitors walk around the local area, carrying large wooden sticks to beat away the dogs and snakes that lurk in the undergrowth. But they can cover only a fraction of their area.
Near the scene of one killing, local people said the only thing stopping them fleeing their homes was the repeated SLMM patrols.
"Just their presence makes things a little calmer," said one woman, although she was scared even to be seen talking to a monitor. "The SLMM presence stops the round-ups, the arrests. Otherwise, there would be no one to tell the world."
The monitors worry expectations are becoming unrealistic.
"We cannot be satisfied with this," Heiskanen told the woman through his translator. "There must be some other solution. But for now we will keep coming."
Monday May 29, 07:05 AM
By Peter Apps
VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - For civilians caught on the front line of a growing conflict between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels, truce monitor Jukka Heiskanen's white jeep is almost the only reassurance around.
But with only four members of the Nordic-staffed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to cover a huge area of interlocking government and rebel territory around Vavuniya, moving from monitoring a ceasefire to active peacekeeping could be a step too far.
"It seems to help that we keep coming here," the Finnish homicide detective told Reuters as he visited a family who said their main breadwinner had been shot dead the previous week by members of the military near the northern town.
"It helps send a signal that we know what's going on here."
The government denies any involvement in deaths of Tamil civilians in the island's north, and says it is urgently investigating the cases. But the truce monitors believe the army is involved and police have made little progress.
The unarmed 60-person mission, made up of staff from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland, was designed to help solve disputes and highlight violations of the truce. It began work on the assumption that both sides were committed to peace.
The government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) maintain they are still committed to the truce that halted a two-decade civil war that killed more than 64,000 people.
But with violence rising and nearly 300 people dead in the past month, SLMM head Swedish Major-General Ulf Henricsson says they are now monitoring "a low-intensity war".
That war sees the monitors in Vavuniya -- led by a Finnish soldier and also comprising Finnish policeman Heiskanen, a Norwegian human rights specialist and a Danish aid worker -- increasingly on the front line.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BODY
Barely a day goes by without at least one of them visiting the district hospital's foul-smelling morgue to see a new dead body. They monitor suspected Tiger attacks on the military, possible murders by members of the armed forces and what they say are probably government attacks behind rebel lines.
They should also have visited the scene of government air strikes on rebel territory in the aftermath of a naval clash off the north coast, but the Tigers denied them access to what the military says was a rebel airstrip.
With the two sides blaming each other for a deteriorating situation, the SLMM is winning itself few friends.
The government is angry at being accused of deaths, while the Tigers -- who want to carve out a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east where they already run a de facto state -- are angry the SLMM chief said they had no rights at sea.
With the rebels threatening new naval attacks, they have warned the monitors they cannot vouch for their safety if they continue their work aboard navy ships.
The SLMM says it will not withdraw and is ordering flak jackets, helmets and perhaps even armoured vehicles. Additional police guards have been posted.
Few residents here will now risk openly talking to the SLMM Vavuniya team. When one household gives them information, the monitors must now visit another half dozen to conceal who is providing them with information.
CALMING PRESENCE
And while some combatants on both sides remain friendly, soldiers who normally smile at foreigners in civilian vehicles simply stare at the occupants of the SLMM's small fleet of well-marked, white jeeps.
But the monitors say they still get a good response from the increasingly scared civilian population, who say army harassment falls in areas where the SLMM shows a presence.
As well as vehicle patrols, the monitors walk around the local area, carrying large wooden sticks to beat away the dogs and snakes that lurk in the undergrowth. But they can cover only a fraction of their area.
Near the scene of one killing, local people said the only thing stopping them fleeing their homes was the repeated SLMM patrols.
"Just their presence makes things a little calmer," said one woman, although she was scared even to be seen talking to a monitor. "The SLMM presence stops the round-ups, the arrests. Otherwise, there would be no one to tell the world."
The monitors worry expectations are becoming unrealistic.
"We cannot be satisfied with this," Heiskanen told the woman through his translator. "There must be some other solution. But for now we will keep coming."
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