End of war doesn’t spell end to suffering

The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund

PRESS RELEASE

May 19 2009

End of war doesn’t spell end to suffering for Tamils

Although Sri Lankan’s were dancing in the streets yesterday after the Government claimed victory against the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), the suffering of the Islands minority Tamils is far from over, said TEAR Fund programmes officer, Ian McInnes.

Mr. McInnes was working with TEAR Fund’s partner in Sri Lanka and directed a team who attended every injured civilian evacuated from the so called ‘safe zone’. More than 14,000 men, women and children have received treatment and support for the most horrific of injuries, he said.

The situation in the war zone over the past few months has been horrific, he said. “I have seen every single one of my staff members in tears, myself included."

McInnes now back in New Zealand said he heard from his team last night that 1,200 arrived at their base in an appalling state. “For the first time patients arrived with untreated wounds. Where as the Red Cross and a handful of doctors still operating in the war zone had managed to bandage the injured, and amputate infected limbs, they could not reach all who needed it in final days of the war as artillery and gun fire had reigned in on the remaining civilians since Saturday last week.”
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TEAR Fund will begin shifting its focus to running a IDP camp for up to 10,000 displaced Tamils, and will continue to receive the remaining injured civilians who currently lie scattered across the war zone.

He said: “The end of one of the 21st century’s most innovative, tenacious and violent rebel groups may indeed be cause for celebration, but jubilant Tamils will be in short supply on Colombo’s streets. They are yet to be given a leader who truly represents their interests; they are yet to be included fully in the political process in Sri Lanka; and more than 300,000 of them from multiple waves of conflict now remain severed from their traditional home lands.”
The task of uniting Sri Lanka has not really even begun but TEAR Fund has been working to build trust between Sinhala and Tamil communities through livelihood programmes aimed at getting Tamils and Sinhalese to work together.

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