IDP Camps 2009: Humanitarian Work in Midst of Propaganda War / by Dr. Michael Roberts

8/13/2019 IDP Camps 2009: Humanitarian Work in Midst of Propaganda War / by Dr. Michael Roberts

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Workshop at FINS, Gangarama, producing artificial limbs


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Tamil IDP amputees await attention from FINS mobile teams at Manik

Farm during one of ten mobile camps that serviced IDPs in the period

8 July 2009 to March 2010


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Suresh of FINS at work shaping a Jaipur Foot for individual needs

556 IDP amputees received limbs from FINS


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SEWALANKA cooked 550,000 packets of food between 17-24 May 2009

at Omanthai


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points

** My Coverage is not comprehensive .

** many NGOs, INGOs and UN agencies involved** . and considerable private enterprise

** missing dimension = views and experiences of

the IDP inmates themselves


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President

Pirapaharanand the

Balasinghams

head forpodium at

Media Event

at

Kilinochchi,

April 2002


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Anton & Prabha field

media questions atKili


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PirapaharansParental home in Valvittathurai,

Nov. 2004-- Pic by Roberts


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THAMILLAM 1995/96 to May 2009** .including 80-100,000 residents of Jaffna Peninsula who

migrated there in 1995/96

** total Population = ?? Perhaps350,000?

** working backwards from figure of 320-330,000entrapped in November 2008 add those in Madhu, Mannarand Pooneryn localities who escaped entrapment. And you

will gain an approximate figure

** the critical point is that very few outside Thamillamhad

definite figures


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Makkal Padaicivilian militia in training in

THAMILLAM . circa 2002-07


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More militia at training images follow


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from circa April 2008 the citizens of Thamillam

faced

multiple displacements [ahead of the battle till January 2009]

served as a conscript a& labour pool

And as space got constricted became So many protective sandbags .

.. a political bargaining chip

Informed by the mid-May deadline [Indian General

Elections] that guided both warring parties Thus,

eventually to the crisis of the Last Redoubt on the

seaside of Nandikadal in April-May 2009


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Last LTTE redoubt on shoreline: a tent city in part pic from Darusman report


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UAV Image of Scene in Last Redoubtprobably earlyApril courtesy of Victor Ivan


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The Tamil death toll in early 2009: a

misleading count by Rohan Gunaratna

23 November 2011, 6:13 am

by Michael Roberts

.. SEE http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/6285


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Must focus on the survivors IDP civilians [includinghidden LTTE personnel]

BUT set within previous context

** their dual citizen status

** their political sentiments & commitments

** the degenerated, dehydrated, exhausted

condition of most of them


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Residences in the Last Redoubt

Late May aerial view of one scene in former Last Redoubt taken by the


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Late May aerial view of one scene in former Last Redoubttaken by the

Times cameramanwith Ban Ki-Moon see series in

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626922360092/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626922360092/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626922360092/


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One image can be misleading. One must view all the pictures

in the Times seriesand then supplement it with the on-

ground images at the Last Redoubt taken byKanchan Prasad on 14-18 May 2012

examples of which follow but are inadequate on their own

so, see

Indian Reporter Pics at NFZ-14-to-18 May 2009 =

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/721576267978

05167/

Mullivaikkal Hospital in NFZ Last Redoubthttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/721576267978

48747/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797805167/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797805167/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797848747/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797848747/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797848747/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797848747/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797805167/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797805167/


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LTTE hospital with Muralidhar Reddy outside mid May 2009


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People streaming & struggling out of the Last

Redoubt late April or Mid-May 2009


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Th t th i t d b YATAWARA i th


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The next three images were presented by YATAWARA in the

S-Observer of 17thMay 2009 so presumably depict scenes

from the May cluster of some 80,000 IDPs


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Distress plus resilience . Pics by Kanchan Prasad at Last

Redoubt mid-May


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On a starvation diet one presumes . the survivors

were HUNGRY

HOW MANY IDPs ere embraced b the GSL in


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HOW MANY IDPs were embraced by the GSL intheir segregation centres?

Lets work backwards

A. 295, 873 persons at peak a/c to Rav Aryasinha in

Geneva recently plus 12,000 LTTE rehabilitees [orare the latter within the total?]

B. 265, 693 a/c Resettlement figures releasedon 31 May 2012 = 10,916 from JP sites

237,057 from V, T and Mannar sites

27,720 humanitarian releases

C. 268,241 a/c UN Situation reports 7 Aug 2009made up of 10,861 JP; 1453 Mannar; 6816 Trinco; and

246, 241 Vavuniya


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So, our focus today is on the 246,00 odd who were

placed in the segregation-centres in Vavuniya .

centres with a welfare cum humanitarian touch

Note that Zone 0 (Kadirgamar) had been set up as

early as late 2008 under combined military/civilian

administration and that IDPs were brought in

driblets from that moment so that the best

accommodation appears to have been in Zone Zero

The two big influxes were: c. 103,000in late April;

c. 80,000 in mid-late May

* ..whileZones 1,2, 3 and 4 were being set up on the run

GSLs reasons for segregating the IDPS in my SURMISE


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GSL s reasons for segregating the IDPS in my SURMISE

1. Protecting own skin from suicide bombers (s/b)

2. Preventing generalized outrage attacks from s/b

that wd spoil sense of triumph.

3. Need to weed out hidden Tigers.

4. Influence of a control philosophy.5. Preventing chaos arising from Tamils without IDs

moving around the country and

6. endangering themselves by wandering in theVanni war zone with its unexploded ordinance and

mines a zone where the Army was still seeking

hidden caches of weaponry.


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That said as conjecture, the fact remains that the

GSL public relationsand clarifications were

terrible . And exacerbated by the security blanket

thrown around the camps

A failure harmful to self

In consequence even the literati in Colombo were

not aware of significant NGO and INGO involvement

in providing services in the camps

While NGOs who were shut out perpetuated tales

of closure.


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* As its is, the aim of weeding out Tigers had limited

success, news reports indicate some were pointed

out by other inmates [I have no specific figures]

BUT both Tigers and Tamil rich slipped out of the

camps with the help of bribes, corrupt officials, the

Tamil para-military groups in Vavuniya, undercover

LTTE intelligence agents and people-smuggling

entrepreneurs [see Sunday Times Insight Team article of

6 September 2009]1000-2000 .. a/c Fr Rohan Silva

8,000-10,000 . a/c T. Sridharan of EPRLF

20,000 a/c PK Balachandran and news reporters


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GSLs reasoning is one arena BUT I would like to

tack our ship to the other shore: namely, thereasoning of the varied humanitarian agencies who

joined the Govt agencies in delivering aid to the

IDPs to their grounded world view.

Working within the limits of GSL determinations,

they focused on the humanitarian needs of the

people .

. to them the IDPs = humans

to them the IDPs = Sri Lankans . not citizens of

Thamillam


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This seminar is an act of HOMAGE

.. To all these agencies and

individuals who serviced a portion of

Sri Lankan mankind emerging from a

strife-torn situation, citizens ofThamillam..

who had been rendered, analytically

speaking, into ex-citizens of Thamillamand were thus in limbo

The PROCESS of IDP movement and reception:


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The PROCESS of IDP movement and reception:

A. Basic sorting, counting & feeding at rear of

battlefront.

B. Transportation logistics from Vanni NE to Vavuniya.

C. Placement in school camps or Zonal campswith

former eventually being moved to the Zones

C/D. servicing, helping and administering each one

of these camps.

some of which were set up on the run creatinginevitable confusion and problems at the outset


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ZONE ZeroApril 2009: Pix by Manori Unambuwe

Creating Camps 1 2 3 4 from scratch Late April


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Creating Camps 1-2-3-4 from scratch Late April2009 onwards a planning meeting pix by Donnie

Woodyard

O b li h fi ld h i l i i


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One parabolic hangar field hospital coming into

being, late Aprilpix by Donnie Woodyard

Open air Medical Clinics late April early May 2009:


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Open-air Medical Clinics, late April-early May 2009:Pix by Donnie Woodyard

Fi ld H it l i f iti J l 2009 Pi b


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Field Hospitals in fruition, July 2009 -- Pix byMin-Health

School Camp & one new Zonal Camp Pix by


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School Camp & one new Zonal Camp -- Pix byConstantine, a Tamil moderate


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I d l d b


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Images deployed by

Dixon (right) & Rohini

Hensman(left) inadverse reports from

abroad

Joint military & civilian adminwith military in command


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y y

Regular coordination meetings with NGO,s INGOs UN etc

WFP provided basic food items [five]

Community kitchens run by IDP inmates using equipmentsupplied by various agencies

Initial confusion at some points

Water supply was a major problem for long

Horrible sanitary conditions in toilet areas exacerbatedby poor toilet designs, inadequate number of toilets and

cultural preferences for open spaces

Island-wide propensity of Lankans to generatejaraa

Some tents were unsuitable


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Let me concentrate on the MEDICAL RELIEF that was

provide in the Vavuniya Camps .

Min-Healths Disaster Relief team was diverted to

coordinate rostering and transport of all the med-

personnel, drugs and other supplies

Experienced teamHerath, Kottegoda, Ranasinghe

8 senior doctors assigned to the camps were

supported by 35 post-intern doctors [3 Muslim, 2

Tamil, rest Sinhala] sent to Vavuniya in late April to

work in the Camps

The parabolic hangar field hospitals were set up


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The parabolic hangar field hospitals were set up

quickly and once floors were laid with concrete &

fully kitted-up proved to be a wonderful facility

better than SLs divisional hospitals in the opinion ofSafras

But note that INITIALLY there were long queues of

patients doctors were treating 5000 per day a/c Woodyard

Some inmates were in such a poor state that at the

outset a few dropped dead in the queue every day and Woodyard reckoned conditions had improved

when none did so a few days down the track.


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Daily death data in Menik Farm in mid 2009 (Source: Ministry of


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Health, Sri Lanka).http://www.sangam.org/2009/11/Health_Report.php?print=true.
http://www.sangam.org/2009/11/Health_Report.php?print=truehttp://www.sangam.org/2009/11/Health_Report.php?print=true


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The Sinhala speaking doctors were assisted by

translators from within the IDP population till those

doctors who stayed on acquired working knowledgeof Tamil

The medical teams had to cope with outbreaks of

dysentery, hepatitis and chicken-pox that hit bothinmates and security staff

At one point rapid work on stool samples by the

MRI enabled the medical team to identify thebacteria causing dysenteryand to combat the

outbreak through an appropriate drug

The medical care of the IDPs pursued by these doctors


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p y

and nurses was assisted by the fortitude, skill and

selfless help of personnel from within the IDPs, many of

them trained by the LTTE as medicsHERATH stresses this in a Note to Roberts (15 Sept 2012):

Once they were identified, their salaries were paid by the

appropriate authorities. Most of them helped the areaswhere they used to work (nurses and midwives in hospitals

and public health services, teachers in schools). There was a

zonal education director who worked with us [medical

teams] very closely. Most of the psychosocial activities wecarried out were facilitated by him. However, the majority of

them were those in the lower strata of the government

services.


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Herath emphasised the importance of their services:

these IDPs were the ones who ensured the

continuity of services. In fact they were the

people who looked after the camps during night asoutsiders(except doctors and nurses who did

night work) were not allowed, and even the

movement of the Police was restricted to the gates,

sentry points and patrol under supervision (to leave

no room for unwanted allegations).


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At the outset, in April-May 2009, the GSLauthorities were fearful of basing the doctors within

the campsa significant point this. However, by WHEN precisely? early July if not

earlier the interrelations between the helpingprofessions security personnel and IDP inmates wasaltogether amiable

Myrna Setunga recorded her agreeable surprise atthe camaraderie between the police/army

personnel and the IDPs .. The pictures that follow were taken in July by Min-

Health and Min-Education extracted by Myrna fromtheir files [fortunately]

Street theatre a strong Tamil tradition


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Street theatre a strong Tamil tradition


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Dr Herath with children Herath cut short work leave in UK andlocated himself at Apura from 8th May as operational head of the


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located himself at A purafrom 8 May as operational head of the

Med-disaster team


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Unlike the previous Pix this one is from the S-Observer of 10


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Unlike the previous Pix this one is from the S Observerof 10

May and is significant in revealing how quickly some

semblance of normality was created in some Zonal camps

Alas, I have no date for this picture


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Alas, I have no date for this picture

IDP Camps 2009: Humanitarian Work in Midst of Propaganda War / by Dr. Michael Roberts

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