Violence in Sri Lanka Mars Aid Efforts

The Workers' Samaritan Federation of Germany and their partners from Norway and Switzerland were forced to suspend their project to re-build three villages for the victims of the 2004 tsunami when violence between Tamil Tiger rebels and troops escalated in August 2006.

The villages, which were to hold approximately 1,200 houses in total, were located in Tamil Tiger-controlled territory on the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. They were not far from the Forward Defence Line where Sri Lankan government troops have been fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelaam (LTTE) for years.

Several million US dollars had been invested in the project. But the violence forced the project to be closed down, says regional director Matthew Todd.

"We had to close it basically because the project sites in the middle of August 2006 had become a war zone," he explained. "It’s impossible when there are shells and bombs going off around you, to be building houses."

War zone

Todd added it was very difficult to access the project sites after that. Moreover, he said that the people they were building houses for "ran away because they didn't want to stay in the middle of a war zone".

"We were able to provide emergency shelter, semi-permanent toilets for people in the places that they then became displaced to."

"Many families have been displaced five, six, seven or 10 times during this long-lasting conflict," explained Dirk Altweck, who works for German Agro Action in the region.

"Now they don’t know whether they'll be able to stay in the villages or not. It’s a very difficult situation for these people, particularly given the unpredictability of the current developments."

Closure of projects

German Agro Action has had to close down a project to build house in Mullaitivu in north-east Sri Lanka, which was particularly badly hit by the tsunami.

"We had to freeze the project a while ago because there were problems with certain building materials," Altweck said. "Even materials, which could be bought locally at reasonable prices, were being sold at prices we couldn't accept."

But just like other international aid organisations, Agro Action has continued its work in the area, despite difficult conditions and reduced mobility. The German aid workers are now focusing on emergency aid as opposed to long lasting projects.

"The people in the north, whom I think are most affected by the conflict, had high hopes for the future after the tsunami as well as after the cease-fire agreement, and now this is all being put into question. It’s a very sad development," regrets Dirk Altweck from Agro Action.

Tragic situation

Todd says the situation is a tragedy: "The hope that people had -- people were working together immediately after the tsunami -- was a phenomenal thing to see -- and to see all of that unwind and unravel itself is very, very sad, very tragic."

"I only hope that at some point in the future, things can be back in that way again -- that people can sit alongside each other and actually work together and build something good for their own future and for the future of all Sri Lankans."

The government has sworn to crush terrorism in Sri Lanka and violence is intensifying on the border with rebel-controlled territory. It might take time before the people in Sri Lanka can really have faith in their future.