The bishop of Jaffna said he believed a government proposal to reopen the A9 to deliver aid to the Tamils was "sincere". But the leader of the rebels has charged Colombo with using the peace process to conceal its desire to annihilate the ethnic minority.
Colombo (AsiaNews) The Church in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka, appreciates the decision taken by President Mahinda Rajapakse to dispatch basic humanitarian aid via the A9 Road, closed since August following the escalation of violence between the army and Tamil rebels. However, the peace process is becoming increasingly complex.
In a letter sent to the head of State on 26 November, Mgr Thomas Savundaranayagam, bishop of Jaffna, thanked the government for its decision to temporarily resume aid delivery to the peninsula cut off from all land routes after the closure of the A9. The population of the region is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food, medicine and gas. The only supplies come by sea but current weather conditions have made delivery and distribution slower and expensive.
The bishop, who has long been pleading with Rajapakse to send urgent aid to Jaffna, is convinced that "Colombo's proposal is not a mere propaganda ploy to satisfy the big donors but a humble and good gesture on the part of the government to build trust and confidence with the Tamil people. We see it as a genuine desire of the government of Sri Lanka to attend to the needs of the people."
Not so the leader of the Tamil Tigers, who yesterday accused the central government of using negotiations to conceal its intention of annihilating the minority he represents. In his annual address, Velupillai Prabhakaran said the rebels were left "with no other option but an independent state". Local analysts say his words deal a death blow to the peace process with Colombo.
Since 1983, the army of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been fighting for independence, citing discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. The openness of the Tigers to a federal solution for the country's 2.5 million ethnic Tamils had paved the way for a ceasefire in 2003, violated several times by both parties.