Last Tuesday, a suicide bombing on the army headquarters in Colombo has heightened fears of a return to all out war in Sri Lanka. Thousands of people fled their homes in the North as the military launched fresh air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets.
Today, near the village of Welikanda in the eastern district of Batticaloa, 250km north-east of Colombo, Tamil Tiger rebels have launched deadly attacks on a breakaway faction they accuse of receiving military-backing. On paper, a ceasefire signed in 2002 remains in place. But with this latest violence, its future seems uncertain…
I was in Sri Lanka last October for work, and I had the opportunity to visit projects in the South (Galle) and in the LTTE controlled areas, up in the North. In Kilinochchi, the most difficult thing to witness when you go around is all the “transit” camps… some for the tsunami-affected population – surrounded by NGOs and international organisations logos – and the others for war IDPs. Mines field is another common thing in the Vanni.
Here is a picture in one of these fields, with the women de-mining unit. These girls are between 18 and 21 years old, and they work for the Humanitarian Demining Unit – Norwegian People’s Aid. In the Tamil culture these girls’ occupation is not seen as appropriate, and most of them have left their families to become deminer.
The other picture was taken in a transit camp.
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