Hope in the Ruins?

Is it possible that the death and destruction in post-tsunami Sri Lanka also contains a glimmer of hope for resolving the country’s 21-year civil war? Three days after the tsunami, Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E.), pronounced sympathy for the forces on the other side. “My condolences … go out to our Muslim and [Sinhalese] brethren in the southern coastal areas, who have lost their kith and kin …” he said in a statement. The following day, another L.T.T.E. bigwig, S.P. Thamilselvan, announced that the group would accept the Sri Lankan government’s offer of aid in the areas the L.T.T.E. controls in the country’s northeast, and told reporters: “This new tragic situation has laid the foundation for both parties to come together and close the division.” Just weeks before the disaster, Prabhakaran threatened a return to hostilities after a three-year cease-fire and unsuccessful peace talks with the government.

Some attributed the bonhomie to desperate need: rebels put the death toll in Tamil-dominated territory at 15,000, and there are unconfirmed reports that the guerrilla group itself lost ships, equipment and many cadres (which the Tigers deny). While NGOs are already helping out in the northeast, most of the international aid will reach the affected areas only through the government. Much depends on how the relief effort goes, and it didn’t start well, with the rebels complaining that President Chandrika Kumaratunga was neglecting the region. The government is “finally sending some aid,” says Thaya Master, an L.T.T.E. spokesman. If the relief effort goes well, some Sri Lankans hope that the disaster could lead to an unexpected political windfall. “Once [the rebels and the government] learn to work together,” says Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, “they can develop an understanding, and eventually use that understanding for peace building.” But if the relief effort falters, the antagonism between rebels and the government might only deepen. As Master says: “We don’t trust this government and this President yet.”