The second round of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka
and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) is presently taking place in Thailand.
The first round of peace talks has given some assurance that normalcy
will be restored and the people of Sri Lanka, in particular the Tamil
community in the north and east, see a glimmer of hope. This is already
leading to a cautious return by displaced persons to their places
of origin.
The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has blown out of all proportion
since 1983 – years in which the entire Tamil community in the north
and east of the country were severely affected. Several military operations
and intense fighting displaced many people and, while the more affluent
were able to migrate to other countries, the financially and socially
deprived had no option but to become internally displaced and live
under very difficult conditions. Since the escalation of the civil
war in 1995, people living in the so-called "unliberated areas" have
had to live under an embargo enforced by the Government. Medicine,
food, clothing and other essential items have been denied to these
people. The estimated number of displaced people in the southern part
of the northern province of Sri Lanka alone is 354,000. This figure
does not include the refugees living in camps in Tamil Nadu, India,
neither those living in many other countries all over the world.
Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the Sri Lankan
Government and the LTTE in February 2002, the situation in Sri Lanka
has been rapidly improving. Those people returning to their old homes
find that their houses, school buildings, churches and temples, hospitals
and shops etc. have been reduced to rubble. An estimated 31,400 homes
have been completely destroyed in the southern part of the northern
province of Sri Lanka.
Many of the returnees have been languishing for many
years in refugee camps and temporary shelters. Now they face added
trauma when they return to find their homes razed to the ground. These
people are poor peasants without any support systems who depend solely
on the government supplies of dry rations and help from NGOs and churches.
Consequently, assistance towards reconstruction and rehabilitation
is urgently needed to enable the more vulnerable restart their lives.
ACT member, Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South
India (JDCSI ) plans to assist 1,000 of the more vulnerable, rural
peasant families (4,238 persons) who have no regular income or means
to restart their lives. Plans were being made to construct 50 houses,
5 wells and a community hall in each of the selected 20 villages in
the Vanni region. Furthermore they wish to provide training on health
and nutrition as well as training related to income generation.
It is expected that with the end of the embargo pre fabricated and
raw materials can now be brought to the sites without delay. The locally
available manpower and the participation of the beneficiaries will
help in a speedy completion of the project.
The initial budget is estimated as follows (US$):
Construction of 1,000 houses, including land, labour: 1,040,804
Construction of 1,000 toilets: 66,326
Construction of 100 wells: 76,530
Construction of 20 Community Halls: 27,550
Health & Nutrition training: 4,285
Income Generation, training: 24,489
Transport and related costs: 30,612
Stipends: 4,897
Audit/evaluation: 1,428
Total: 1,276,921
Expected donations land and labour costs: 316,324
Estimated Balance request from ACT: 960,597
The ACT Co-ordinating Office is in communication with the JDCSI about
this appeal. The ACT CO requests funding members to indicate possible
support to the proposed rehabilitation and reconstruction programme.
