Envoys of donor countries have been invited for a meeting with the President on May 27 to discuss the mobilisation of resources to rehabilitate and rebuild the war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula. The P. A is seeking 247 million US dollars from the donors to implement a reconstruction program in Jaffna. The plan has been drawn up briefly and in outline. It has been sent to all the donor country missions in Colombo.
But it appears that the President may not get the money across the table, as it were.
It is understood that there is a move to apprise the Presidential circles before the scheduled meeting between the President and the foreign envoys of the concerns which these countries and the UN share in making an immediate commitment on the money requested by the P. A government .
The President has fixed a meeting with the five party Tamil alliance as well on May 27. It might perhaps have been assumed that a pledge by the donor countries to come up with the money sought by her, would give her greater leverage in Tamil affairs - with the Tamil parties as well as with the people of Jaffna.
Needless to say, if there is no hard cash for alleviating the condition of the people who are now living in areas under army control (the walled parts) and for repairing the war damage, the military gains of Riviresa II and III cannot be consolidated.
However, the government will have no one but itself to blame if it cannot secure a solid pledge on the money it is seeking for Jaffna. Why ?
A cursory look at the concerns expressed by some major donor countries will make it clear that the problem, as with many other crises besetting the country, lies mainly with the P. As style of government - ad hoc, uncoordinated, disorganised, tardy etc., etc.,
The P. A, according to a report , has submitted a two year plan to be implemented in two stages. The first stage targets the resettlement and rehabilitation of the people displaced from the peninsula. Over hundred million US dollars are expected to be spent on this program. Stage two of the plan will target the economic development of the peninsula which includes reconstruction and repairs to the road network, improvement to the health sector, transport facilities and education. A sum of one million dollars has been set apart to pay compensation for damages due to war
The government is seeking the 247 million dollars on the basis of an urgent but general plan which is based on general sector requirements (roads, health, education etc.,) rather than on the basis of specific projects. Donor countries are usually reluctant to come up with money for such plans. This is a fact which the Ministry of Finance is fully aware of. Even the conditions for the utilisation of the annual pledge made by the Sri Lanka aid consortium in Paris are generally project specific. Project evaluation, needs assessment etc., may not be possible if the funding is sector based and general. Refunding of projects originally supported by some donors, however, might pose less problems provided that the donors are convinced that the security situation has improved significantly. The British visited Jaffna recently to inspect two power generation projects - one at Chunnakam and the other at KKS - which they helped to construct. But other countries, like Norway, which funded major projects in Jaffna are yet to show an interest in refunding them.
In addition to this, there appear to be four issues which contribute to this reluctance on the part of the donors to come up with the cash for the government’s reconstruction plan for the peninsula.
a) That there is no emergency in the north such as mass displacement and starvation requiring immediate and massive relief effort.
b) That there is a lack of co-ordination between , and access to, authorities involved in northern affairs . There are many power centres which have a say on relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in the north - the Northern Province Rehabilitation Authority, the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, the Presidential Secretariat, the Ministry of Defence and the line ministries. The problem for any donor country which wants to either evaluate or just see the projects it funds in the north is that there is often little co-ordination between these power centers.
The Northern Rehabilitation Authority may grant permission for something which the Ministry of Defence could overrule when its permission is sought separately . In recent times, there has been at least one instance where confusion arose due this lack of co-ordination at the level of all these centres of power which handle affairs in the north.
c) Some major donors feel that the rehabilitation and reconstruction program for the north should be tri - lateral - that is, the process should involve their aid agencies, the government, and the people of Jaffna themselves. We feel it is crucial to have the participation of community leaders in the north at least when the needs-assessment is done initially. Otherwise things may tend to get lopsided in the long term which is not a good thing said a western diplomat.
d) Access to the north. This is a major concern. The high prices, transport problems etc., are due to the fact that the government itself finds access to the peninsula quite difficult. There is, currently, just one port - at KKS - with berthing facilities for unloading large quantities of goods. A safe land route has to be opened, say donor agencies, if a massive reconstruction effort involving more than two hundred million dollars is to be undertaken by the government immediately. The government has given no indication to the countries from which it is seeking the 247 million dollars as to how it is going to provide safe access to the north.
e) Security remains the main concern. How safe is Jaffna ? The feeling is that the money pumped into expensive projects in the north can go waste if the security climate remains uncertain. In 1987 a major donor country spent about hundred million rupees on a project to take water from the Kattukarai Kulam on the mainland of Mannar to the island of Mannar where fresh water is hard to come by. Few days after the completion of the project fighting broke out between the Indian army and the Tigers . The Indians blasted one of the towers at the pumping station to prevent the LTTE from using it as a recce point; later the Tigers blasted the other tower and removed the pumps to deny the IPKF water and a potential recce point. The local people removed what ever was left.
The donors, it appears, are not inclined to see the eight foot walls which are coming up in some parts of Jaffna as an indication of improving security climate .
In this context one has to also take into account the fact that the LTTE is hell bent on sabotaging what the government gained in the peninsula following Riviresa II and III. They, apparently, realise that reconstruction and development can immensely contribute to the pacification of the peninsula. The intelligence wing of the LTTE issued a four page pamphlet (officially in its own name -which is quite uncustomary ) recently to civilians in those areas of Jaffna that are under the army’s control which, among other things, said -
development and reconstruction (by government) are aimed at blunting the desire among the Tamils for (national) liberation. What is the need for development and rehabilitation after (your) rights, freedom and self respect have been lost ? The people have to be careful about development plans.
And before issuing this pamphlet in the peninsula, the LTTEs political wing called all the donor country agencies, foreign NGOs and the UNHCR for a meeting at Kilinochchi. The gathering was addressed by Karikalan, Thamilchelvan and George. The Tigers said that they would not guarantee the safety of any foreign aid and reconstruction work in the peninsula. It was clearly implied that even the safety of foreign persons could also not be ensured. The general tenor of the LTTEs lecture on future development work in the peninsula seems to have caused serious concern. No one seems to doubt that the Tiger can be very nasty when it wants to.
On the other hand, the Tamil parties have been grumbling that monies which are secured by the government from donor nations purportedly for relief work in the north and east are spent in the south. Mr. A. Thangathurais observations in Parliament last week on how the government has completely ignored the districts of the northern and eastern provinces in granting drought relief is a manifestation of this feeling among the Tamil parties. The Virakesari also took up the matter editorially last week.
It is quite evident that some major donor countries feel that the 247 million US dollars, if granted in these circumstances, will end up as budgetary support.
Nothing succeeds like success. The President has had a full measure for it. The time, however, has come for her to understand that handling success can often be intractably messy.
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