Communal clashes render
35,000 Lankan Muslims homeless
AFP,
Colombo
Apr 20: Relief workers were
battling Sunday to feed some 35,000 people left homeless in a Muslim-dominated
town where inter-communal clashes threatened to scuttle Sri Lanka's fragile
peace bid, officials said.
Police and army units
patrolled the streets of Muttur, 270 kilometres northeast of the capital
Colombo, to separate Muslim and Tamil mobs after rioting on Thursday and Friday
left at least three people dead. Allegations that Tamil rebels abducted two
Muslim men led to the latest rioting.
"There were no fresh
incidents overnight and we have now eased the curfew here," local police chief
Upali Hewage said by telephone.
"We will re-impose a night
curfew today merely as a precautionary measure." The clashes threatened to
undermine the Norwegian-backed peace bid aimed at ending three decades of ethnic
bloodshed that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
The government's peace
negotiator and top Muslim leader, Rauf Hakeem, told reporters at Muttur Friday
that he feared the unrest in the area could eventually lead to a scuttling of
the fragile peace process.
Muslims, who are the second
largest minority after Tamils, complain that Tamil Tiger rebels have attacked
them in Muttur where the Muslims are in a majority.
For their part, the rebel
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a statement condemned attacks on
Tamils carried out by Muslim mobs and appealed to Tamils to act with
restraint.
"Attacks of this nature
would affect the present peace process," the LTTE said. "Tamils and Muslims
should join hands to identify the elements behind these
attacks."
The rehabilitation ministry
said some 7,314 families-or more than 35,000 men, women and children-were left
homeless after the Muttur rioting and arrangements were being made to provide
them with dry rations.
The top civil administrator
in the region, N. P. K. Nelundeniya, said they have begun distributing food and
other essentials to the homeless. "About 80 houses have been burnt, but more
people have left their homes fearing attacks and sought shelter in public
buildings and places of religious worship," Nelundeniya
said.
He said the authorities
were making arrangements to pay compensation to the victims so that they could
rebuild their houses quickly and return home early.
Military officials said the
situation in Muttur remained calm Sunday as soldiers patrolled the streets in
support of police units in the fishing town. Scandinavians who are monitoring a
truce between government forces and the LTTE said they did not know who was
responsible for the violence, but they were trying arrange talks to ensure there
was no repetition.
Targeting civilians or
harassing them is a violation under the ceasefire that went into effect on
February 23 last year. The truce is also the centrepiece of the peace talks
between the government and the Tigers.
The government and the LTTE
are set to open the seventh round of their face-to-face talks in Thailand later
this month when human rights issues are expected to be taken up for
discussion.