(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Along the national road A11, burning sun rays hit cyclists with sky-high firewood on the carrier. Sweat seeps down bare brown upper bodies and makes the sarongs – the traditional wrap skirts – stick wet.
- Do not take a picture of the cyclists! admonishes the local driver.
The reason is the military posts which are located in close proximity along the road towards the city of Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka. And although most of the barricades are camouflaged by grass and flowers, the potash cows and green soldier helmets are easy to spot. In this area, the front lines of the government and Tamil tiger armies are moving back and forth.
Going home again
This is in many ways Sri Lanka in a nutshell. Today's Sri Lanka. For highway A11, which connects the northern area with the east coast, reflects the fragile peace: a state that is neither war nor peace. The rebuilding of the country that is underway after twenty years of war, while the government and the Tamil tigers are guarding each other. Reportedly, highway A11 is controlled by the government by day and by Tamil tigers by night.
But first and foremost, the national highway says that communication between the northern areas and the rest of the country is open again. Until two years ago, northern Sri Lanka was isolated from the rest of the country. Anyone who would travel from Jaffna in the north to the capital Colombo in the southwest had to count on several day trips in open small boats. It is not long since the main roads were opened, tells all the road workers, all the bumps and deep asphalt holes.
Nevertheless, the refugees are flowing home on the newly opened roads. Since last year, 300.000 people who have fled their own country have returned home. It started on February 23 last year after the Tamil Tigers' leaders and the Sri Lankan government signed a ceasefire agreement. The date marks the biggest victory since Sri Lanka's female president, Chandrike Bandaranaike, asked Norway to lead the peace talks and Erik Solheim was given the role of special adviser.
- Since this summer, the number of returned internally displaced people has exploded. Many have traveled spontaneously without registering with the UN or other international organizations. Most people want to go home before school starts and before the rainy season sets in, points out minesweeper Pelle Christrup in Norwegian People's Aid. He is clearing mines in a village outside Kilinochi, where the LTTE, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has its headquarters. In this area, the Tamil tigers have total control over the residents. The soldiers and their police are known to be better trained and better equipped than the government forces.
- People are so eager that some leave before their home areas are cleared of mines. This means that we follow the flow of refugees and start detonating mines immediately, Christrup remarks. He adds that there are large minefields in the LTTE-controlled areas. But clearing is far easier than in Afghanistan, because the mines are laid out according to certain patterns and the government has released maps of the minefields – unlike the Tamil Tigers.
- By all means do not go where red-painted sticks have been set up, I hear a local woman shout. It's Arumugatsaj. She originally comes from the mined village and says that the west side of the village is cleared, but not the east side and the rice fields.
- In two months, the village must be cleared of mines. Then I move home immediately, says Arumugatsaj, interrupted by the voices of happy school children rehearsing in a choir.
The minefields and destroyed houses cause the school pupils to stay in temporary shelters. There the students sit on mats in the sand under a roof of banana leaves. The bigger students have chairs, tucked into the sand.
Two schoolgirls with thick dark braids and white dress skirts, N. Pushpaluxmy (15) and V. Vijaruby (14), dream of becoming teachers because they want to give other young people a chance to get a job.
When asked if they could imagine becoming "female tigers" at the LTTE, they are embarrassed, saying that they admire the female Tamil soldiers, but could not imagine joining them. At the same moment, teacher S. Kuna shoots in:
- We came back because of the Tamil Tigers. They are fighting for our rights.
Teacher S. Kuna is not the only one with such an opinion. Everyone asked in this area repeats the sentence. Whether it is by conviction or fear is hard to say. About one million people live on the Jaffna Peninsula and in the Northern Province, almost exclusively Tamils. The small group of Muslims is displaced by the Tamil tigers. In this area, the white and orange pennants, the symbol of LTTE, wander the streets.
Can't go fishing
However, along the coast outside Jaffna town, it is not the pennants, but miles of thick barbed wire that is attracting attention. In its cruel way, the barriers tell us that the conflict has not been resolved, even though the ceasefire has lasted 19 months. In April this year, the LTTE broke off negotiations with the government because several of the points in the agreement were not met, such as restrictions on fishing and access to the so-called high-security zones, says regional fisheries union chairman Antony Ninslaus.
The Navy supervises the fishermen and restricts access to the fishbanks, including through special fishing and identity cards, which must be renewed every four days. In addition, the boats must be ashore after dark. If not, they will have to wait until the next morning to go ashore with the fish, the fish chairman regrets.
- Some claim that fishing boats full of weapons have been brought up?
The question triggers head-shaking and discussions among Jaffna fishery cooperative fishermen.
- No one in this area has been taken with a weapon, claims the president of the local fishing team, S. Thadvaratnam.
But the coastal fishermen support the LTTE they do not hide.
- There is no one else to support us, and many LTTE soldiers have lost their lives in the fight for our rights and our liberation.
Control of the sea
Nevertheless, it is a common belief that the notorious Sea Tigers originate from the fishing community. And that the smuggling between India and Sri Lanka over the short stretch of sea at 60 nautical miles is widespread. According to the Daily News, 25 naval boats were sunk between 1994 and 2001.
In light of such facts, it is understandable that control of the coast and the sea is considered to be one of the major challenges for peace in Sri Lanka.
