SRI LANKA:The war between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lanka's army has left many displaced, writes Tadhg de Barra
"MANY REFUGEES pass my sister's home. They have no food nor shelter." Sr Jazili described the scene in the "Vanni", the Tamil Tiger-controlled autonomous region in northern Sri Lanka. The nun has just returned from visiting her sister there.
"There is no food or medicine, none of these things. There is no clean water to drink."
Witnesses report hordes of refugees fleeing north every night. The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acknowledge the displacement of "tens of thousands" of refugees inside the Vanni.
Since the breakdown of the 2006 ceasefire, the Sinhalese dominated SLA (Sri Lankan Army) has advanced into the Tamil Tiger controlled regions in the north and east. They are almost within shelling distance of the Tiger capital, Kilinochchi, inside the Vanni. The Tigers are cornered.
Civilians, displaced by the fighting, are fleeing deeper into the Vanni rather than crossing into SLA hands. Asked why, Sr Jazili said: "They are afraid to go south now, they know of these people." These people, the SLA, have a documented history of human rights abuse: extra-judicial assassinations, "white van" disappearances, serial rape, NGO and journalist killings have been commonplace in Sri Lanka for the last three years.
Jaffna, the Tamil city which has been under SLA control since 1996, is a ruin, a Dresden in the jungle, where two or three people are "disappeared" every night by paramilitaries who pass unimpeded amongst SLA checkpoints.
The ICRC has so many applicants seeking protection that it has taken to hiding them in the town's prison, where they are considered safer amongst criminals than on the street amongst the SLA and police.
The STF (Special Task Force) unit of the SLA is suspected of gunning down 17 aid workers of French NGO, Action Contra La Faim, in Muttur in 2006. This same unit was moved out of Accarapatu, in the east, last April after the Muslim community reported an epidemic of rape. Between 20 and 40 Muslim women are thought to have been assaulted.
The northeast and northwest, recently "liberated" by the SLA, resemble the West Bank of Palestine - multiple checkpoints along each road, a complicated pass system, reinforced bases, new settlements and Tamil-free zones - all manned by Sinhalese soldiers who speak a different language and pray to a different god.
The Sri Lankan government claims the Tigers intend using the refugees as "human shields" in the defence of Kilinochchi. Amnesty International has also voiced such concerns.
The Tigers' record on conscription of adults and children is well documented - they once had a one child per family "tax". A complicated "pass" system has been used in the past by the Tigers to manipulate populations within the Vanni.
And certainly, the Tamil Tigers have armed civilians. They have released photographs of armed civilians fighting, deliberately blurring the distinction between civilian and combatant, prior to this battle for Kilinochchi. The fighting potential of the Tigers may remain quite robust. This could result in a prolonged and bloody battle for Kilinochchi. The UN is now demanding that some provisions be made to assure the safety to refugees around the Kilinochchi.
The ICRC, UN and journalists have significant difficulty in accessing the frontlines or the Vanni. Sr Jazili said: "My sister's children must go to school for their A-level study but are afraid of the bombing, and because their school is filled with refugees. They cannot study because there is no food or clean water to drink. Yesterday, the master in the school was killed in an air raid. Where can these children be taught?"
Tamils place great faith in education. It used to be one of the few ways to escape. The front may soon reach Kilinochchi. The good sister remains more concerned with her nieces' education than with the war on their doorstep.