The Asian tsunami did not discriminate between friend and foe. Rival communities were suddenly united in horror and misery. In Sri Lanka, where rival Tamil and Singhalese communities have been edging uneasily toward an enduring peace, the surging sea caused mayhem up and down the east coast. Here was an outstanding opportunity for both sides to bury their differences, if only for a few weeks, and coordinate the relief operations.
Yet it appears not to have happened. The government in Colombo was quick to announce it would be sending relief wherever it was needed. When Tamil Tiger officials in the quasi-autonomous Tamil north of the country protested that the government was not delivering promised food and aid to the areas under their control, Colombo was quick to deny it, claiming it was Tamil propaganda. Unfortunately on Friday we saw something that suggested that the Tamil claims might be justified. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, making a whistle-stop tour of the region to see the scale of the disaster for himself, was in Colombo and expressed a wish to go north to Tamil-held areas. The Sri Lankan government said they would prefer that he did not and because he was their guest, Annan had no option but to drop his plan to visit that part of the island.
This was a serious error of judgment by someone in the Sri Lankan government and it may well produce unnecessary bitterness. Worse, it might even lead to the rekindling of the currently dormant conflict. Many more lives may be lost before any sort of trust is re-established. Even more notable than this are the opportunities that might have opened up had the Sri Lankan government swept aside its legalistic reservations and treated the Tamils like the Sri Lankan citizens Colombo says they are. By an open-handed, generous and brotherly approach to Tamil victims, the government might have taken the wind from the sails of extremists who still want a breakaway state. Instead, its grudging response has given extremist Tamil Tigers a propaganda victory. They will be able to claim, with apparent justification, that when the chips are down, Tamils are second-class citizens on the island.
It is less clear what has been happening in Aceh. There have been claims that government forces have seized the opportunity presented by the post-tsunami disorganization of rebel fighters to move against them. It seems, however, just as possible that rebels may have launched attacks on Indonesian military moving in to the disaster area. If this latter is true, then it is outrageous that men sent by Jakarta to help the people of Aceh should have been treated in such a way. Nevertheless, even though it had plenty of other things to think about in the wake of the tsunami, the authorities in Jakarta might have considered a unilateral truce during the disaster relief operation. Unlike in Sri Lanka where the opportunity is now surely lost, it is still possible in Aceh, where the damage and loss are greatest, to make an all-important goodwill gesture.
