British
prime minister meets refugees in first visit by a world leader to
Tamil-dominated north since independence in 1948
By Rowena Mason
The refugees of Sabapathy Pillai
believed David Cameron had been sent by God to help them get their land back. A
swarm of Jaffna women stormed
through a line of military police to plead for his help in finding their
missing loved ones.
Yet only a few hours later, the prime
minister left a meeting with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa no closer
to securing an investigation into alleged war crimes, or an admission that many
Tamils continue to be persecuted.
The prime minister arrived at the
Commonwealth summit in Colombo on
Thursday night, promising to use his trip to highlight human rights abuses in
the host country, following fierce criticism of his decision to attend.
But as world leaders and royalty,
including the Prince of Wales, gathered in the capital for their biennial
meeting, Cameron first headed to meet victims of Sri
Lanka 's 25-year civil war and those
suffering continuing violence.
An extraordinary 12 hours
followed, as the prime minister became the first world leader to travel to the
Tamil-dominated north since independence in 1948, before returning to the
capital for a planned showdown with Rajapaksa.
According to the UN, as many as
40,000 civilians are estimated to have died in the final months of the regime's
conflict with Tamil Tiger separatists. In the four years since then, the Sri
Lankan government stands accused of allowing kidnappings, torture and
intimidation, leading Canada
and India to
boycott the summit in protest.
Despite fears within Downing
Street that Sri Lanka
would find a reason to prevent his trip to the north, a red carpet was rolled
out for Cameron as his private plane, operated by a commercial arm of the
military, arrived in Jaffna .
The official welcome was
shortlived, however, amid a heavy army presence and pro-government protesters
bearing placards calling for an inquiry into Britain 's
colonial crimes.
His first stop was a meeting with
CV Vigneswaran, the new Tamil first minister of the northern
province , at Jaffna 's
symbolic library, which was torn down and rebuilt after the civil war.
As he left the building, his car
was surrounded by hundreds of Tamil protesters, held back by the military, as
they tried to hand him pictures of their missing loved ones. Several were
thrown to the ground as they broke through a security cordon to reach him.
The prime minister then travelled
to the offices of the newspaper Uthayan, to meet journalists who blame the
deaths of six of their colleagues on masked paramilitary gangs sent by the
government. One is still missing.
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David Cameron meets Tamil refugees in the Sabapathy Pillai refugee camp in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. |
Cameron toured a printing press
destroyed by an arson attack which has left the office with bullet holes in the
walls.
He saw the desk where a staff
member was murdered in 2006, and was given a copy of a fake propaganda
newspaper distributed during recent elections.
Anuraj Sivarajah, online editor
of the newspaper, said he was very clear who was to blame for the attacks and
arson that has brought the newspaper near financial ruin.
"Those responsible are the
government," he said. "It's the paramilitary. The military is still
ruling here. The Tamil chief minister has no powers, no land, no control of the
police."
He supported Cameron's visit,
saying it had helped highlight intimidation of the media, and said the biggest
issue for journalists was covert surveillance by the military, often in
civilian clothes.
"It's a very big gift for
us, his coming," he said. "There are two sides of it. After that they
will be afraid to touch us.
"Or the other way around –
they just will think, 'We'll show who we are.' Maybe tomorrow they will
come."
The prime minister also visited
the Sabapathy Pillai refugee camp, described by the government as a
"welfare village", where around 150 families have lived in makeshift
accommodation since they were displaced in 1990.
Members of the military police
were present outside the newspaper and throughout the village, hovering in the
background.
Inside the camp, residents were
optimistic that Cameron's visit could improve their chances of returning to the
fishing settlements they left behind 20 years ago, which have been turned into
a military zone.
Suharsha Uthayaswriyan, deputy
leader of the site, repeatedly said his people were not angry with the
government, but they lived in "bad conditions" and "just want to
go back to their lands".
"We do not want to live in a
welfare centre, we want to live in our own lands," the 30-year-old said.
"For the past 23 years,
people have come to see us but have not taken any action.
"We believe in David Cameron
as a god coming down to this part of the land so we believe he can make a
difference. He is God and sent by God to us."
However, such high expectations
are likely to be disappointed. Downing Street sources
conceded that Cameron made little headway with Rajapaksa during an hour-long
meeting on Friday evening.
They described the exchange as
robust and animated, with Rajapaksa acknowledging problems in his country but
arguing that they needed time to be sorted out.
During the encounter, Cameron
quoted Winston Churchill, urging the president to show "in victory,
magnanimity", and compared the path of reconciliation to the Northern
Ireland peace process.
He brought up attacks on
Christians and Muslims, the murder of British national Khuram Shaikh, the
killing of journalists and seizure of land.
Cameron also mentioned a Channel
4 documentary about atrocities allegedly committed by state forces in the last
months of the war, containing images verified by the UN.
However, the president batted
away the allegations and suggested that Cameron was using the visit to win
favour with the Tamil community in the UK .
Earlier, a Sri Lankan media
minister had warned the prime minister he could not treat the country like a
colony.
Following his visits, Cameron
told television reporters he believed the visit had been worthwhile to
highlight the plight of many people suffering in Jaffna .
"The pictures of
journalists, shot and killed, on the walls, and hearing stories of journalists
who have disappeared long after the war has ended – that will stay with
me," he said.
"And the image, in this
camp, of talking to a young woman who came here when she was very young – a
child in this camp – and wants nothing more than to go to her own home."
Cameron also argued that the
Commonwealth had helped bring about elections in the provinces and suggested
that he would raise concerns about the situation in Sri
Lanka in international forums including the
G20 and EU.
This could include pushing for an
international investigation into human rights abuses, amid few signs the
government will agree to hold an inquiry of its own that would satisfy
observers as credible.
He added: "These issues aren't settled in one day or
one visit."
