Sri Lanka: War-weary civilians dream of new homes

By Adthiya Alles | Inter Press Service
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Ramaih Sathdiyapillai has had enough of life on the run. A native of Kilinochchi district – which was until not too long ago the stronghold of the separatist Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka’s north – she bore the brunt of the war along with tens of thousands of others.

As the war between government troops and the Tiger rebels escalated between mid-2008 and mid-2009, civilians like Sathdiyapillai found themselves trapped by the fighting. She escaped the conflict in March 2009, spent almost one and half years in a camp for the displaced and only returned to her native Kilinochchi in August.

Still, she cannot return to where her house is in Ponnagar, because the area has yet to be cleared of mines. "So we wait, till we get the all clear," she says. For the time being, Sathdiyapillai lives in a tent. She says it is much better than running away from bombs and bullets, or living in a camp for the displaced. "At least we have some kind of privacy now."

Her dream is to build a new house for her family, now that the almost three-decade-old war in this South Asian island nation is over. "This is like the end of a very bad, very long nightmare, to have a house and be sure that we don’t have to run away from it," Sathdiyapillai said.

The United Nations has estimated that there is a need for at least 160,000 new houses in the Vanni, the region that was dominated by the Tigers until they were wiped out by government forces in May 2009.

According to U.N. estimates, about 3,200 houses have been built in the Vanni by mid-July while an additional 2,100 were in various stages of construction. Housing is the biggest need in the region – especially now that number of those displaced by war and staying in various camps has fallen below 30,000 as of August.

More than 280,000 people have left the camps, like Sathdiyapillai has. Close to 200,000 have reached their villages or live on their own, while the remainder lives with host families.

The returnees have been promised a grant of 325,000 Sri Lankan rupees (about 2,900 U.S. dollars) to build houses. "We are waiting for that," Sathdiyapillai said. This amount, according to the U.N. core group on housing construction, is enough to build a 46.45-square metre house over a period of at least six months.

The government-operated Sri Lanka North East Housing Reconstruction Programme is to build over 10,000 such houses in the north-east. U.N. Habitat is to build 4,000. The Indian government has agreed to fund the reconstruction of 50,000 houses in the north and east.

But there could be delays in the reconstruction process, due to factors such as lack of assistance funds from the international community after the end of the war. The United Nations faces a funding gap of 165 million U.S. dollars in its targeted contributions for Sri Lanka this year. So far, it has received more than 120 million dollars for its post-war programmes. "There are shortfalls for all sectors, but the largest are for work on economic recovery and infrastructure, water and sanitation, agriculture and health," said the U.N. donor appeal released on Aug. 26.

There remains much to be done in the Vanni, U.N. officials say. "The job is not yet done. It is still a critical period and we ask for your continued support to meet the remaining crucial needs," Neil Buhne, the U.N. country head for Sri Lanka, said in an appeal to donors to stay the course.

Indeed, the list of needs is long. According to U.N. records, at least 96,000 toilets need repair, and over 60,000 have to be reconstructed. There is a need for 61,000 new wells. Roads and transport need major attention, especially in remote areas of the Vanni.

At the same time, sectors like education and health have recorded improvements. More than 240 schools have reopened and were functioning by end of July in the Vanni.

More than 25,000 households have also received assistance to restart farming in the Vanni. U.N. officials say they hope to see this number double soon and more than 60,702 hectares of farmland back in cultivation before the end of 2010.

Still, the success of many of these projects rests heavily on funds continuing to come in during the period of rehabilitation, long after the sounds of war have died down.

"All of us know there is much more to be done. Recently returned people are still vulnerable," Buhne pointed out.

The United Nations has scaled down some of its operations in Sri Lanka, although officials say this is because the work has been completed. In the last nine months, it has closed the offices of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the country’s east.

Still, hearing news like these tends to make people like Sathdiyapillai worry. "We have suffered so much, for so long. At least now we have the chance the pick up the pieces and live in peace" if reconstruction efforts continue in the coming years, she said.

© IPS

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Sri Lankan government’s bogus inquiry into the civil war

By K. Ratnayake | World Socialist Web Site
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Sri Lanka’s Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) has begun its hearings into the reasons for the “failure of the ceasefire agreement” with the Liberation Tigers of Eelam (LTTE), the subsequent renewed civil war and proposals for “national reconciliation”.

President Mahinda Rajapakse established the commission to fend off international pressure for a war crimes inquiry. In the final months leading up to the LTTE’s defeat in May 2009, the Sri Lankan military killed thousands of Tamil civilians. The LLRC’s first sittings confirm that its purpose is to whitewash the role of the government and cover up their crimes.

The commission began its sessions in Colombo on August 11, with sittings due to take place in the East and North of the island where most of the fighting in the 25-year war took place. In the North, hearings will take place in Kilinochchi, which was the LTTE’s administrative centre prior to its fall in late 2008.

The commission is anything but independent. C.R de Silva, who heads the eight-member body, is a former attorney general with a record of defending the government against human rights violations. For instance, De Silva opposed a group of international experts set up to oversee a government Commission of Inquiry (CoI), when they questioned the inquiry’s independence and credibility.

The CoI was appointed in November 2006 to examine 16 incidents involving allegations against the Sri Lankan security forces of murdering civilians. One particularly notorious case was the execution-style killing of 17 aid workers employed by Action Contre la Faim (ACF) in 2006 August. Rajapakse dissolved the CoI last year without it producing any public report or findings.

H.M.G.S Palihakkara, another LLRC member, was a UN envoy until the end of 2006. He staunchly defended the government against allegations of human rights violations in international forums. The other commission members are former top state bureaucrats, a former judge and an academic, none of whom have any record of defending democratic rights or standing up to the government.

De Silva’s opening remarks revealed the partisan character of the commission. “The time has now come to consolidate the victory achieved one year ago and establish national unity and reconciliation,” he said. The military’s “victory” has only lead to the consolidation of a permanent occupation of the North and East and the continued abuse of the democratic rights of the island’s Tamil minority—hardly the basis for reconciliation.

The purpose of the commission—to justify the Rajapakse government’s actions—is clear from its approach to witnesses. Retired defence secretary Austin Fernando was grilled on August 18 in an attempt to prove that the 2002 ceasefire agreement (CFA) had strengthened the LTTE, put the country in peril and that Rajapakse had no alternative but to restart the war.

Fernando was defence secretary when the United National Party (UNP) government—now in opposition—signed the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. Under questioning, Fernando said that “there had not been proper consultations with the military before the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government signed the CFA with the LTTE.” He was asked whether he was aware that the Norwegian facilitators had drafted the CFA in consultation with the LTTE to make it favourable to them.

The attempt to blame the Norwegians and the LTTE for an unfavourable agreement stands history on its head. Several factors drove the UNP government to sign the ceasefire—a devastating series of defeats at the hands of the LTTE in 2000, a financial crisis as the government attempted to rearm and finally the September 11 attacks on the US. Sections of the ruling class viewed the Bush administration’s “war on terror” as an opportunity to force the LTTE to the negotiating table on their terms.

Far from being favourable to the LTTE, the LTTE was compelled to abandon its demand for a separate capitalist state in the North and East of the island at the start of peace talks. With the backing of the US and other major powers, the UNP government insisted that the LTTE renounce violence and disarm before any final political solution was reached—a demand that ensured peace talks never discussed any issues of substance.

From the outset, however, Sinhala extremist groups, including the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), denounced the ceasefire. The military, which was also bitterly opposed, provocatively intercepted LTTE supply vessels on several occasions, sinking one in international waters. At the same time, the military, which had been outgunned by the LTTE in 2000, used the breathing space to rearm and acquire more sophisticated weapons.

Matters came to a head in late 2003 when the LTTE presented a proposal for a political solution to the government as the basis for resumed talks. Amid JVP denunciations of the UNP for betraying the country, President Chandrika Kumaratunga—from the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP)—used her executive powers to seize three key ministries including defence. In 2004, she dismissed the UNP government and held an election that resulted in a SLFP coalition with the JVP headed by Mahinda Rajapakse as prime minister.

In November 2005, Rajapakse narrowly won the presidency based on a lie. He claimed to be a man of peace, but based himself on a platform drawn up with the JVP that insisted on a rewriting of the ceasefire agreement—a recipe for war. Amid a series of provocative murders of LTTE supporters, Rajapakse restarted the war in 2006 in open violation of the ceasefire—with the tacit support of the US and all the international backers of the “peace process”, including the Norwegians.

The commission also took evidence from the president’s brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who, as defence secretary, is deeply implicated in all of the military’s war crimes over the past four years. Far from grilling him over the numerous incidents involving the deaths of civilians reported by human rights organisations, the questioning was more like a chat among friends.

The defence secretary was not challenged over his lies: the war had been a “humanitarian operation” to “liberate the Tamils”; government policy was “zero civilian casualties”; the military took steps to “minimise the loss of civilian life”; aid groups were allowed to distribute food and medicine; and so on.

The commissioners even helpfully prompted Rajapakse. For instance, De Silva noted that some surrendering LTTE cadres had said they were guided by soldiers through mine fields. “Had you given an order to the army to guide people?” he asked. “Actually the order given is in that document to provide safe passage. To see that they were not attacked by mistake,” Rajapakse replied.

The exchange is particularly significant in the light of reports in the British press that Rajapakse had ordered the killing of three top LTTE leaders in May 2009 who were carrying white flags and surrendering. The reports were confirmed by the former army chief, General Sarath Fonseka, provoking bitter denunciations from Gotabhaya Rajapakse. De Silva did not question the defence secretary over the so-called “white flag” controversy, or any other human rights abuses in which he is implicated.

The government’s attitude towards democratic rights was underlined by the testimony on August 26 of former Sri Lankan official at the UN, Jayantha Dhanapala. He urged “the international community” to “adopt a new protocol to deal with the armed forces battling terrorism spearheaded by non-state actors. Armed forces should not be charged with war crimes when they launch offensives against terrorists.” What Dhanapala is suggesting is that the Geneva Convention on war crimes simply be torn up in the name of “fighting terrorism”.

The appeal is directed in particular to the US. The Colombo political and media establishment has bitterly complained that Washington and its allies, while accusing Sri Lanka of human rights violations, are carrying out similar actions in Afghanistan. Certainly the US criticisms are hypocritical, but their purpose is to put pressure on the Rajapakse government and to undermine growing Chinese influence in Colombo—not to seek justice for the victims of Sri Lankan war crimes.

The proceedings of the commission do not in any way constitute an investigation of alleged war crimes, but are aimed at covering them up. In the final months of the war between January and May 2009, the UN estimated that 7,000 Tamil civilians were killed as the army pounded the shrinking patch of LTTE-held territory. A report by the International Crisis Group this year put the death toll between 30,000 and 75,000 and accused the Sri Lankan military of deliberately bombarding hospitals and aid centres.

In line with the Sri Lankan government’s flat denials that the military killed any civilians, the commission is yet to ask witnesses about any of these atrocities.

© WSWS

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Sri Lanka's trade deficit widens over 100 percent in first half of 2010

Colombo Page
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Sri Lanka's expenditure on imports surpassed the earnings from exports widening the trade deficit by 108.6 percent in the first half of 2010 to US$ 2.844 billion, figures released today by Economic Research Department of Sri Lanka's Central Bank showed.

Cumulative export earnings over the first six months of 2010 grew only 13.7 percent while expenditure on imports rose by 42.1 percent, the External Sector Performance report released today for June 2010 showed.

Higher earnings from the industrial and agricultural exports contributed to a 23 percent growth in export earnings of US$ 697 million in June 2010 but expenditure in all major categories of imports also increased by 32 percent to US$ dollars 1.114 million.

Exports of apparel and rubber products to US and European markets increased the export earnings in June.

Earnings from textiles and garments exports increased by 24 percent to US$ 305 million in June and exports to the United States increased by 34 percent while 8 percent increase was recorded for the European Union.

The European Union withdrew its GSP+ tariff concession to Sri Lanka from August 15. The move is expected to reduce the export earnings from Europe in the months to come.

According to the Central Bank earnings from exports of rubber products increased by 110 percent to US$ 52 million while earnings from agricultural exports, especially in tea exports accounted for 24 percent of export earnings in June 2010.

The rise in crude oil prices has contributed significantly to the increase in expenditure of imports.

The reduction in import duties on motor vehicles and electronic items by the government has lifted the import volumes of these items contributing to the expenditure on consumer goods.

Workers' remittances grew by 13.54 percent in the first half of 2010 over the same period last year bringing in US$ 1.82 billion.

© Colombo Page

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Sri Lanka port to shed excess staff

Lanka Business Online
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The Sri Lanka Ports Authority plans to shed staff with a voluntary retirement scheme and change worker attitudes to ensure a better service, its chairman Priyath Wickrama said.

"We plan to release 4,000 employees by end-2011through the VRS," he told a seminar at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce organised by the Asian Shippers' Council. SLPA had 13,296 on its payroll in 2009 of whom 12,150 alone were employed in Colombo port.

The numbers were slightly less than in 2008 but the SLPA has been over-staffed for years with recruitments by successive ruling party politicians in order to buy votes, analysts said.

Wickrama admitted the SLPA was overstaffed but said the labour issue was a delicate one and had to be handled carefully with up to 33 trade unions in the port sector.

"Attitude change is very important for an institution like us - a government institution," he said.

"We need to change to compete with the private sector - if not we will not able to survive in the current global competition.

"We intend changing the working environment and attitudes," Wickrama said.

"Under the current system we need about seven people to fix a bulb - that's how we're operating. Now we're changing it. It's not easy - we have to convince the workers, deal carefully with the workers.

"Within five years we will convert this to a better port, with better attitudes."

© Lanka Business Online

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China Merchants Holdings in $450 mln Sri Lanka port deal

By Shihar Aneez | Reuters
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Sri Lanka has signed a $450 million deal with China Merchants Holdings (0144.HK) and local conglomerate Aitken Spence SPEN.CM to boost the Colombo port's cargo-handling capacity, a official said on Tuesday.

The joint venture will build the first of three planned terminals in the Colombo port. Each is expected to add the capability to handle an additional 2.5 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU). The port now handles 4.5 million TEU.

"The tender board has finalised the deal," Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama told Reuters. "The total investment is around $450 million."

The state-run port authority is also a partner in the venture but Wickrama declined to say how much each partner was contributing. Two sources familiar with the deal said China Merchants will have a stake of about 70 percent.

The government expects the first phase of construction to begin within six months, with a three-year target for completion.

China Merchants is a holding company for enterprises that specialise in developing transport and infrastructure businesses. Its main business unit operates ports in China.

Sri Lanka is increasingly relying on China and Chinese companies for the financing and expertise required for the more than $6 billion worth of infrastructure investments it has undertaken since the end of a three-decade war in May 2009.

Earlier this month, Sri Lanka opened a new Chinese-built and financed port on its southern coast, along an ancient "Silk Road" trading route and one of the world's biggest East-West shipping lanes.

© Reuters

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Sri Lanka to lease out 12 islands to set up hotels and resorts

By P Krishna Kumar | Travel Biz Monitor
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Government of Sri Lanka will lease out around 5,500 acres spread across 12 islands, to potential investors who want to invest in setting up hotels and resorts in the country. The 12 islands are located in Kalpitiya area of Western Sri Lanka, close to the capital city, Colombo.

According to Dr Nalaka Godahewa, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism, the tendering process for leasing out identified lands in these 12 islands will begin within a month’s time. The lease period will be for 35 years and further enhancement will be considered depending on the volume of investment that comes in.

Godahewa mentioned that Sri Lanka Tourism is in the process of identifying more locations for developing tourism infrastructure, including hotels, resorts, convention centres, entertainment centres, marinas, etc. in the island nation. He informed that interests of investors will be fully protected in Sri Lanka. “We can think of separate tax holidays for investments amounting to more than USD 500, 000,” added Godahewa. When asked about his expectation in terms of Indian investments, he said that Sri Lanka Tourism expects between USD 300 and USD 400 million from Indian investors.

Sri Lanka Tourism has set a target of 2.5 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2015. “We need to have around 30,000 more hotel rooms to achieve the target growth. We have achieved a growth of more than 40 per cent in arrival numbers in the first half of the current year and hope to achieve the target of 2.5 million before 2015,” said Godahewa.

When asked about the infrastructure development of North and East of the country, Godahewa said that they are virgin territories as far as tourism development was concerned. He said that land for two beach resorts and two island resorts have already been identified in these areas and more locations will be identified in the coming months.

For all kinds of investments in the tourism segment, the Sri Lankan government has empowered Sri Lanka Tourism Board as the ‘single window clearance’ body.

© Travel Biz Monitor

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Sri Lanka: Addressing needs of stressed children

Integrated Regional Information Networks
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Few studies of children in Sri Lanka have examined the daily stress they continue to face since the tsunami and civil war, focusing instead on the direct impact of both, according to two studies in the latest Child Development journal.

Family trauma and economic problems, including domestic violence, the death of relatives or losing access to healthcare, housing and schooling can be more closely related to a child’s mental health than the 2004 tsunami or the civil conflict that ended in May 2009 after two decades of fighting and three failed peace attempts. The government is trying to boost services in the conflict and disaster-affected north and east to help children in distress.

“Significant variance in children’s distress and development is explained by daily stressors caused and exacerbated by, or even unrelated to conflict or natural disaster,” the authors wrote in one study of 400 Sri Lankan youths aged 11 to 20. Little research uses this “ecological perspective” to measure the ongoing and cumulative impact of multiple disasters on children, according to Child Development.

The escape

Kannan*, 9, from the Tamil ethnic group fled with his family during the height of Tamil rebel fighting in 2009 from Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka – the rebels’ military base – to the neighbouring province of Mullaitivu.

“I was scared. Blood was everywhere,” he told IRIN. How such children recover from war depends on the extra attention they get, said Mahesian Ganeshan, a child psychiatrist in eastern Sri Lanka. “These children need extremely caring environments within families and outside the family environment to overcome the horrific and traumatic experience.”

Most children in northern and eastern Sri Lanka have lived through either war or the tsunami, or both, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which, with the government, has identified at least 4,000 children, a number of them former child soldiers, needing urgent support. Further assessments should be made to establish how many more children may need extra help, said Mervyn Fletcher, UNICEF’s head of communications in Sri Lanka.

Response

A senior consultant to the government’s child protection authority, Hiranthi Wijemanne, told IRIN: “With the prolonged conflict and the resulting psycho-social distress and trauma compounded by the tsunami, we definitely need more [children’s mental health services]. With the numbers [of affected children] involved, a more community-orientated and public health approach is preferable to the ‘western, individual’ model, which we cannot afford as the needs are great.”

He said the government was hiring more mental health specialists and the University of Colombo psychiatry department and the government planned to implement a community-based programme to train public health officials in working with children.

Jaffna College, a private school for primary and secondary students in northern Sri Lanka, has started admitting students from displaced families on special admission programmes that include extra guidance and counseling. “These [are] children who had seen the death and suffering continuously for months,” the college’s principal, Noel Vimalendran, told IRIN.

UNICEF is helping to train 269 government employees – whose agencies span probation, social services, police forces, women’s development and counselling – in 14 of the north’s 33 administrative regions to improve services to protect children. In addition, the children’s agency will train more than 1,000 community workers in at least 150 agencies in how to reduce children’s risk of accidents from unexploded ordinance (UXOs).

Handicap International, Caritas and Motivation UK are rehabilitating disabled children, while Save the Children UK is helping former child soldiers adapt to life after civil war.

“The most important aspect of all this is the end of a violent environment for children,” said Wijemanne.

© IRIN

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