Aid to the Church in Need: Sri Lanka: Bishop warns of “total annihilation”

Sri Lanka: Bishop warns of “total annihilation”

Posted by Press release on 12/3/2009, 8:02 am
Message modified by board administrator 17/3/2009, 10:07 am

ACN News, Thursday, 12th March 2009 – SRI LANKA

Bishop warns of “total annihilation”

Catastrophe looms for civilians caught up in a final military showdown

By John Pontifex and John Newton

THE bishop of war-torn northern Sri Lanka has written to the country’s president warning that more than 100,000 people face “total annihilation” – unless an immediate evacuation gets under way.
Describing how government and rebel forces are preparing for “the final battle”, Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam’s urgent message to President Mahinda Rajapaksa pleads on behalf of people trapped in a war zone in the north-east of the country.
The Bishop of Jaffna’s letter, a copy of which he sent to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, comes as the armed forces of the Colombo-based government prepares for a final showdown with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers.
In the letter, the bishop makes plain his fear for people cut off in a narrow, seven-mile-long ‘safe zone’ in the coastal district of Mulaithivu.
Underlining “the perilous situation of total annihilation of civilians in the no-fire zone”, the Bishop writes: “The Sri Lankan army and the LTTE are poised against each other to fight the final battle.”
He continues: “Since the situation is extremely dangerous, we request fast and stern action to respond to the present vital need for the safety of civilians.”
The letter, a copy of which has been sent to LTTE political chief Balasingham Nadesan, calls on both sides to work together on a plan to evacuate the people by land or sea to a safe area within the districts of Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu.
Describing how until now government forces have ignored his “repeated requests to open a safe corridor” for people to leave the area, he writes: “The [Sri Lankan Army has] persisted in using heavy weapons like artillery and mortar shells and simply drove the people away from a safe corridor to the present situation.”
Proposing a five-point emergency plan to be implemented “at the earliest opportunity” by both sides in conjunction with the United Nations observers, Bishop Savundaranaygam calls for a cease-fire to allow UN representatives to investigate the region and issue a report.
He goes on to stress that the people in the safe zone face a humanitarian crisis “with very few trees to provide shade from the blazing hot sun”.
The bishop calls for immediate relief aid from the World Food Programme.
This is not the first time the bishop has intervened on behalf of those affected by the conflict.
Speaking in January to Aid to the Church in Need, the charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians, he described how the government had resisted his calls to stop shelling in areas populated by civilians.
Dr Savundaranayagam has previously made several approaches to the government on behalf of civilians affected by the fighting and has carried out an incognito mercy mission to the region with food aid funded by ACN.

(Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam)

Bishop Savundaranayagam has been highly critical of the armed conflict, saying that a “military solution can never bring about a lasting solution to the present problem”.
Beginning in 1983, the conflict between the Tamil Tigers and government forces appeared to be giving way to a lasting peace settlement after a cease fire was brokered in 2002.
But in January 2008 the government announced it was withdrawing from the truce after the cease fire was openly flouted with a sudden escalation of violence in 2006.
The conflict has killed at least 70,000 people and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
The Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for a separate ethnic homeland, were driven into the far north by the army at the end of 2008.
The Tamil separatists appeared to be on the brink of complete defeat in early January after the government captured Kilinochchi, their administrative headquarters in the north.

A podcast of a radio interview with Bishop Savundaranayagam done by Brami Jegan of SBS Radio Australia is availabe via the following link:

http://www20.sbs.com.au/podcasting/index.php?action=feeddetails&feedid=83&id=27557

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org