Sri Lanka violence hits tsunami aid projects

Sri Lankan soldiers patrol the northeastern town of Trincomalee Keystone

Swiss-funded post-tsunami reconstruction projects in northeastern Sri Lanka have been suspended amid fears that the country is sliding back into civil war.

Aid workers have been withdrawn from the district of Trincomalee, which on Wednesday saw renewed air and artillery strikes against rebel Tamil Tiger positions.

The attacks – the first official military action since a 2002 ceasefire halted two decades of conflict – follow a deadly suicide bomb attack in the capital Colombo on Tuesday. The United Nations says thousands of people have fled their homes.

Max Seelhofer, head of the Swiss and Austrian Red Cross consortium in Sri Lanka, told swissinfo that work on rebuilding thousands of homes around Trincomalee had temporarily been suspended.

He said expatriate Red Cross staff members had pulled out following advice from the Swiss-run International Committee of the Red Cross.

“The situation there is very tense and construction activities have come to a halt,” Seelhofer said. “Our local staff members are scared, they stay at home and reduce their movements to a minimum.”

Trincomalee is one of two main areas where the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is coordinating post-tsunami reconstruction projects.

Earlier this month Switzerland pledged a further SFr10.9 million ($8.6 million) for rebuilding work in Trincomalee and the southern district of Matara.

Markus Baechler, the SDC’s director in Sri Lanka, told swissinfo that the situation had been difficult in Trincomalee ever since bomb attacks and ethnic violence a fortnight ago left up to 20 people dead.

Peace talks scrapped

Last week the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who want a separate homeland in the north and east of the country, pulled out of a second round of peace talks due to take place in Geneva.

Tamil Tiger and Sri Lankan government representatives met in Geneva in February for the first time in three years and agreed to respect the fragile ceasefire and stop all acts of violence.

But after an initial lull, the situation deteriorated earlier this month following the killing of a prominent Tamil politician in Trincomalee. Around 100 people have since died, many of them soldiers.

On Wednesday the Swiss foreign ministry condemned the Colombo suicide bombing, which killed at least nine people, and urged both sides to “break the spiral of violence” and resume negotiations.

“Only a political solution can bring an end… to the armed conflict in Sri Lanka,” said the foreign ministry in a statement.

The Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations, however, said there was little hope of new peace negotiations unless there was “strong and impartial” intervention by the international community.

“The confidence on both sides has been destroyed and the country is returning to war,” warned the organisation’s president, Anton Ponrajah.

swissinfo, Adam Beaumont with agencies

In brief

Earlier this month the Swiss pledged a further SFr10.9 million for post-tsunami rebuilding work in the southern district of Matara and the eastern area of Trincomalee, where a consortium of Swiss agencies is concentrating its efforts.

The projects are being coordinated by the SDC, which is working closely with the Swiss Red Cross, Swiss Interchurch Aid (HEKS) and Swiss Solidarity, the fundraising arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo’s parent company.

The consortium has so far helped to repair and rebuild around 8,500 homes in Matara and Trincomalee. A second phase of work to reconstruct thousands of damaged or destroyed homes in former buffer zones had been due to start shortly.

Key facts

The tsunami on December 26, 2004, mainly affected Sri Lanka’s north, east and south coasts.
According to the SDC, more than 30,000 people died and around 500,000 were left homeless.
Switzerland donated SFr10.5 million last year for emergency and reconstruction programmes in Sri Lanka.
More than 35,000 Sri Lankans, mostly Tamils, live in Switzerland.