Staring at Starvation

Sri Lanka continues to obstruct food supplies to Vanni

HALF A MILLION people in the Vanni are staring in the face of starvation. International Community (IC) has, in recent weeks, pleaded with the Sri Lankan regime to allow supplies of food and medicine to enter the region. But, the Sri Lankan government is resorting to desperate, and arguably irrational, excuses to prevent a convoy of supplies from reaching the population. Will the IC act to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe or will it play fool by heeding to Sri Lanka’s excuses?

In mid-September, the Sri Lankan government ordered UN agencies and International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) engaged in development at relief activities in the Vanni to withdraw to areas under government control. Simultaneously, a campaign was launched to enforce the civilian population to abandon their homes and displace to military controlled Vavuniya. Supplies of food and medicine were barred from crossing the border into Vanni.

By the end of September, all UN agencies and INGOs had pulled out of the region, despite having to trample on the founding principles of their respective organisations. Growing protests did reach the ears of international leaders, who expressed their concerns to the Sri Lankan delegation at the sidesteps of the annual UN summit in New York. In response, on 29 September, the government announced that 80 lorries of food and medicine will be allowed to enter Vanni “within a week.”

The number of lorries have since been reduced to 60. In a positive development, six staffs from the UN food agency, WFP, were given permission to accompany the convoy. On 30 September, as the lorries finished loading, each vehicle was searched by the Sri Lankan military. One lorry was found to have had 2.5 kilograms of C4 explosives concealed under the cabin, while another was allegedly loaded with packs of AA batteries. The entire convoy was prevented from progressing.

On 01 October, the convoy, again, assembled to move towards the border. All the lorries were searched by the Sri Lankan military, who, this time, found 22 GPS devices on-board one of the lorries. Again, the convoy was prevented from proceeding to the border. Accusations were levelled against the UN, whose staff have been constantly taunted with the “terrorist” stigma. In response, WFP said that the concerned lorries were hired by the Government Agent in Vavuniya.

Liberation Tigers or Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been engaging the Sri Lankan military on several fronts in the Vanni for more than a year. An artillery shell contains in excess of 5 kilograms of explosives; hundreds of these are fired across the various fronts daily. Thus, 2.5 kilograms of C4 explosives are of questionable necessity to the LTTE. Likewise, AA batteries have long been considered a luxury, which most people in the Vanni have learnt to live without.

Interestingly, war materials were rarely, and never in such small quantities, found on-board any of the thousands of vehicles that crossed the border on a regular basis during the past seven years. Obviously, “finding” such items concealed in this particular, desperately needed, convoy serves the Sri Lankan government well. Engineering such a “finding” prevents food from reaching the population in Vanni, who the government hopes will cross into Vavuniya when faced with starvation.

To the rational minded, Sri Lanka’s “findings” of war materials on food convoys is a conspicuous melodrama aimed at continuing its enforced starvation of Vanni’s population. Many in the IC, due to resourcing constraints, are prone to accept Sri Lanka’s promises and subsequent excuses at face value. The Tamil Diaspora must ensure that the IC is kept up-to-date on all developments in the region and that the irrationality of any excuses from the Sri Lankan government are duly highlighted.