Sri Lanka's civil war and the threat to NGOs

The United Nations said Aug. 31 it will keep its aid workers in Sri Lanka, despite claims by an EU truce-monitoring team that Sri Lankan soldiers killed 17 workers from a French nongovernmental organisation (NGO). As the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam re-ignites, the threat to civilians both native and foreign is increasing.

The bodies of 15 NGO workers were found Aug. 6 in the town of Mutur near the port of Trincomalee in northeast Sri Lanka. The workers, ethnic Tamil employees of the French nonprofit relief organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF), reportedly had been lined up and shot execution-style by Sri Lankan troops after a long battle for the town.

Two days later, two more dead aid workers were found in a car, apparently killed while trying to flee the area.

The victims, aged between 24 and 54, all were wearing distinctive ACF shirts that clearly identified them as aid workers, the AFC said.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, an organisation of European countries set up to monitor the 2002 ceasefire between the Tigers and the government, has accused the Sri Lankan army of killing the workers. Colombo denies the claim, and instead blames the Tigers.

The Sri Lankan army finally took Mutur and the surrounding area Aug. 4 after weeks of heavy regional fighting, which forced an estimated 200,000 people from their homes.. Communications as well as command-and-control often are severely degraded by the movement of units and the confusion in the post-battle period..

To operate in a combat zone and gain access to potentially sensitive areas, NGOs must build and maintain a level of trust with commanders on both sides of the fighting. The risk in doing so in Sri Lanka is that, in Tiger-controlled areas, the Sri Lankan government and military will view NGOs with suspicion, considering them too friendly, or possible collaborators, with the Tigers.

At the same time, the Tigers could easily regard NGO workers as spies for the Sri Lankan army, which also could put them at risk. The risk heightens when the battle lines suddenly shift. Furthermore, in the fog of war or the heat of battle, NGO personnel can find themselves caught up in the fighting, mistaken for the enemy or hit by indirect fire.

Western multinational corporations operating in countries experiencing civil war or unrest also can put workers or potential workers at risk by requesting background checks on certain people for the company's own security purposes. This could inadvertently prompt the government to suspect these people of involvement in illegal activity or espionage.

The most recent bout of fighting centres around the strategic port of Trincomalee. Having retaken the port, the Sri Lankan military is now attempting to consolidate its hold over the area. The fighting, however, has left the military too weak to launch a major offensive against the Tigers' northern stronghold around the Jaffna peninsula.

This will give the Tigers some time to plan new attacks.

As the war picks up again, more extrajudicial killings and incidents involving local employees of multinationals and NGOs on both sides could occur.

Courtesy: Stratfor