Mavil Aru:

Denial of water to civilians

COLOMBO: The Mavil Aru water issue has now escalated into armed hostilities between the Sri Lankan security forces and the LTTE. However it could easily have been resolved had the LTTE been more accommodating and sensitive to the humanitarian needs of the people of the area, including the Tamil people.

Since the Mavil Aru issue has been analysed and interpreted extensively in the media, it is necessary that the facts are placed before the public and the international community, a scopp release said.

The LTTE closed the Mavil Aru sluice gate, denying water to over 15,000 families and 30,2000 acres of paddy lands on July 20. The villages affected as a result are Kallar, Dehiwaththa, Thoppur, Seruvila, Serunuwara, Neelapola, Medagama, Sirimangalapura, Pallikudirippu, Kiliweddi, Kanguweli, Maingama, Thanganagar and Bharathipuram.

The people in the villages belonging to all ethnic groups, Muslims, Sinhalese, Tamils, depend on the water supply from the Mavil Aru anicut for drinking purposes as well as agriculture. The sluice gate is located in an area that was dominated by the security forces at the time of the signing of the CFA

On July 21, the chief incumbent of the Seruwila Temple, as the Government Representative on the Local Monitoring Committee (LMC) of the SLMM for Trincomalee District, requested the Engineers of the Irrigation Department to open the Mavil Aru sluice-gate.

The LTTE cadres threatened the engineers and prevented them from gaining access to the sluice-gate. On July 23, a SLMM Monitor and an Irrigation Engineer were obstructed from visiting the site by the LTTE. On July 25, Elilan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing in Trincomalee District, sent a letter to SLMM referring to the need of a water supply tower in Paddalipuram in the LTTE-controlled area.

On receipt of this letter by SCOPP a decision was taken promptly in consultation with the Secretary to the President and Secretary, Ministry of Nation Building and Development to agree to the construction of the requested water tower with a view to resolving the situation. This was conveyed to the LTTE by GoSL letter the same day through the SLMM.

There was no reaction from the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi or from the LTTE office in Sampoor. The SLMM attempted on several occasions to seek a response from the LTTE to the Government letter of July 23, without any success. The LTTE had by not responding to the GoSL letter of July 23, left little choice to the GoSL to seek to restore the water supply through other means.

On July 26, the Security Forces began escorting the Engineers. The Air Force conducted an air operation against identified targets which had instigated the forcible closer of the Anicut.

On July 27, The SLMM Monitors in Tricomalee received a letter, purporting to be from the community including the villages of Pallikudiruppu, Paddalipuram and Nallur seeking several development related items. The LTTE at this stage had taken cover behind the community.

The Community Appeal went beyond LTTE initial demand and now included safer transport in GoSL controlled areas, increase supply of dry rations to IDPs and to lift the embargo on building materials to LTTE controlled areas. The Community Appeal was communicated to the Government Agent (GA) Trincomalee District and a positive response was sent through the SLMM to the community leaders.

On July 28 the Security Forces began ground action to access the sluice-gate at Mavil Aru purely on humanitarian grounds to restore the free flow of water to civilians. Despite the position of the Government, the LTTE continued to obstruct all attempts at opening the sluice gate.

It was abundantly clear that the LTTE's motives went beyond the water issue and that it was resorting to dilatory tactics as well as armed hostilities to deny the people of the area access to drinking and irrigation water, thereby, creating conditions for their displacement and virtual eviction.

The government's subsequent actions were essentially a humanitarian mission designed to restore the drinking and irrigation water supply to the affected 15,000 families, the release states.