The Pragmatic Solution
There is a way, but you need government clearance
The West just needs to chill out for 15 minutes. There is a huge humanitarian situation and they’re asking when are people going to be let out of camps, when will the Sri Lankan military presence, when that. For mercy’s sake, as soon as possible. The war has been over for like 5 days. For the love of God, just shut up and give the country 15 minutes to deal with the relief effort. War crimes should not be on the agenda right now. Right now the agenda of the UN Human Rights Commission should be the refugee situation. Then whatever. But right now everyone needs to chill out for 15 minutes and give SL a break.
Right now the government is scared. There are LTTE cadres in the camps, and LTTE supporters abroad are basically trying to indict and prosecute the government abroad. In response they are restricting access to the camps, and it has tragic consequences for the people in there. The right action now is to seriously congratulate the government, flatter them even, get the access you need and deliver the aid.
People say I’m going 180 or whatever, but it’s about goals and how you get there. My goal is the development of this country. Right now there is an urgent humanitarian crisis and I will give my full support to this government to deal with it. Then in the medium term push for resettlement, political resettlement, freedom of speech, etc. But right now children are hungry, people are getting their limbs amputated improperly and there’s scabies and Hepatitis A and pneumonia and stuff. Can we please deal with this with the government and facilities we have?
Frankly, I think the statements from the UN are sensible. The latest from the UNHCR UNHRC, for example:
The President of the UN Human Rights council, at a special session on Sri Lanka underway in Geneva, welcomed the dawn of peace in Sri Lanka and said the Council will work with Sri Lanka to protect human rights.
Meanwhile the Council condemned the LTTE use of human shields during the fighting.
However, the buzz internationally is dominated by elements of the Tamil diaspora which liberally fly the LTTE flag. So people contact me with stuff like how do you deal with those elements, or I hear this or I hear that. Plus they can’t get any media from Sri Lanka, so whatever propaganda the LTTE diaspora spits out gets carried. In my opinion we are in this international cockupalypse because the LTTE assassinated Foreign Minister Kadirgamar, but I digress.
LTTE supporters are still driving the media abroad, and the media can’t find anyone to really talk to them here, so they just carry that. Sri Lanka needs to loosen up on access here and human rights and freedom and all that but for the love of God, it would be easier if everyone just chilled out and stopped threatening and antagonizing them for 15 minutes.
Seriously, the ‘international community’ needs to think about goals and how to achieve them diplomatically. So you don’t like Mahinda Rajapakse and his government. Fine, I completely understand. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to attack this country and overthrow the elected government? Do you really have enough money on the table for them to listen? No. So maybe that angle isn’t going to work.
This government has a popular mandate and THEY JUST WON A 30 YEAR WAR. They have the support of most Sri Lankan people and honestly, however they did it, it is good that the country is unified without the LTTE. Perhaps because the west hasn’t lived with Al Qaeda in Wales or New Jersey, but it sucks and I’m glad that’s over.
Regardless, this government has power, it controls access, and everyone has to work with them. They are sensitive, so perhaps behave diplomatically to get the access you need. Stop threatening the war crimes and prosecution and stuff for like 15 minutes to get the access you need. Just chill out, congratulate them on what is honestly an admirable victory and let them know that if they open up the camps they won’t be beaned with footage and lectures and lawsuits. Just go in, shut up and help.
Help us sort out our democracy problems once our people have a decent meal and their chicken pox cured. If the ‘international community’ behaves with some respect now they could participate in that long-term process as friends, with access. Instead they’re asking for the whole cow right now without thinking of the next meal.
It’s counterproductive. Just chill out for 15 minutes, let’s deal with the humanitarian crisis and then do all the paperwork. Though, with all due respect, the only real crime in war is losing. At least, the only one you can prosecute for.
Regardless, do whatever. Just focus on the human need right now. And get the access you need by dealing with these people you don’t like. If you believe in helping the Sri Lankan people, just chill out for 15 minutes and work with us and the government we have. With respect.
Why are there camps at all? You start from the premise that they need to exist in the first place, which seems mistaken. The government is creating a humanitarian crisis by keeping people locked up in these open-air prisons. It’s artificial. Does *everyone* locked up really have no where else to go? I have my doubts. And yes, letting everyone go means you will probably lose some LTTE cadres. I imagine keeping children locked up in these camps will breed a new generation of them, though they might have a different name. What’s the government trying to accomplish? As I said in your previous post, delivering aid to maintain internment camps is probably something no one wants to be a part of.
Also, suggesting that those who are critical of the government are part of the *LTTE* diaspora is more than a bit insulting. I’ll be glad when the LTTE’s influence on Sri Lankan politics is finally done with. Getting to that point shouldn’t involve extra-judicial killings, random arrests, etc. Otherwise, what’s the point?
The LTTE herded people from wherever their lived to a tiny strip of land in Mullativu. That area does not naturally hold 200,000 plus people, they are from Mannar, Jaffna, Kili, etc. Some of them have been moved multiple times. I’ve talked to a few and none were originally from that area.
That area was also mixed in with LTTE and their family. I’m not sure how you perceive this as simple. It absolutely has to be better.
Yes, I realize most people aren’t from that strip. I understand the LTTE dragged these poor people with them when they were fleeing. I follow the news just like everybody else. My point is that it would be better for the government to facilitate the resettlement of these people back to their homes. And that shouldn’t be something that takes 2 years to do, or however long the government decides it needs to run its LTTE witch-hunt. I think it would be better to lose however many cadres escaped with their families if it meant you don’t keep 200,000 people locked up. What exactly are these former-cadres going to do now? The LTTE is done. TamilNet can’t change that.
It is disappointing when people are so quick to set aside human rights for security. That’s ultimately what this is about: security gained by once again abusing the Tamil minority.
Anyway, I’m sure complaints from the diaspora ring hollow.
They should be resettled as soon as possible. I believe the stated plan is 180 days. More to the point, no one can afford to keep them in camps for that long, all Sri Lankans have to start really contributing to the economy.
Basically, I think they need at least 3 months to clear some of the camps, and then rather than boycotts the diaspora should call for more garment factories, etc in the North and East. And build some of them themselves.
that of course is what I did here:
http://www.passtheroti.com/posts/2053#comment-4834
but what you should consider is that the dominant political ideology among young people here, often called ‘progressivism,’ does not allow for political solutions which respect market realities. Much like the EU who persist in market-distorting import-duty loopholes like that which makes SL textiles at least 10% cheaper than their foreign competitors’ product.
As long as SL continues to think that it is a long-term player in the textiles biz, it should consider what will happen when that loophole is phased out and they are forced to compete under the same regulatory climate as kind/lovely/shining/beautiful China.
but of course, you may continue with your armchair quarterbacking of “the diaspora” as so may Singhalese, Burgher and Muslim bloggers and journalists STILL feel so comfortable in using as a proxy for doing actual reportorial work and finding, at the least, a values survey of this tamil diaspora that would substantiate assumptions made about popularly held opinions.
until then, there’s no debate. There’s just you insulting people you’ve never met and eliding over the most salient aspects of struggle in emigration to the West that you’ve apparently never had to deal with. That is why your call to the IC to ‘fuck off for 15 minutes’ doesn’t seem to translate (as regards the western press) as the authentic voice of a Singhalese dove but a crudely fitting piece of a puzzle depicting the stereotypical chauvinist.
Also, has the government given any indication that they would open up the camps, even if the US/UK/etc chilled the fuck out?
This 15 minutes of int’l attention, too, shall pass. “The West” and “the international community” are the SL chattering class’ cherished strawmen–standing in for structural, cultural and economic deficiencies since the dawn of racial paranoia. When in the past 15 years have you observed int’l reporting becoming less dependent on unverified, background sources? They will write the easy story with the known narrative but leave out the curiously unknown and slow-burning climax–after the ‘fighting’ stops, the humanitarian circle-jerk begins: first concern, then promises of funds, then a decades-long entrenchment of the ‘humanitarian’ regime which creates a debilitating depency for all vital supplies on the very same buggers who said they were going to help the IDPs. This will all be aided and abetted by the GOSL–because it is not paying the bills. The UN is funding Manik Farm and the IC will be funding the ‘humanitarian’ effort that follows.
Am i reading you correctly as saying that the GOSL, it’s functions and agents are all little children, high on the adrenalin of winning a spirited game of carrom, and unwilling to eat their vegetables–children that, if plied with a few bits of junk food, will suddenly develop a deep love for veggies?
and if they do grant access and the agents of the irresponsible and hypocritical West sweep in with their devious digital cameras (which never reveal truth unless taken with Rupavahini hands), audio recorders and high-flown ‘human rights’ flim flammery, who will protect the innocent IDPs from stupidly revealing the true extent of their impoverishment, limitations on basic freedoms and immoral conduct by their kind jailors? Who will prevent the IDPs from joining the ranks of, “those who do not love our country,” as anyone who speaks a lick of truth must, under the Pax Mahinda, be considered?
I think you meant UNHRC not UNHCR. One is the Human Rights Council, the other the High Commission for Refugees.
I agree with your post. Obviously. Your analysis is also correct – the media stations are hungry for more news of Sri Lanka and the only ones who are feeding them any “news” is the ill-informed Tamil diaspora representatives with their half-truths. You only have to ask yourself whether the LTTE abroad would let any independent Tamil representatives emerge even in the diaspora, to understand how “independent” these people are. Notice how they never criticize the LTTE; at best, they distance themselves if pressed, but never say anything critical.
What I find hard to reconcile is that half my friends have already visited these camps. So is it just the expats they’re leaving out. I know Sri Lankan NGOs have access, right? Is that correct? The news reports seem to portray the impression that no one is allowed in. That impression is blatantly false, isn’t it? Indi – you’ve been there. What’s the deal?
Ravana, have replied here.
I haven’t been to the camps. I’ve been to the hospitals. There are makeshift camps nearby that I’ve visited. It’s like anything else in Sri Lanka really, you can get in with connections. And there is priority for Sri Lankans as opposed to internationals. They are leaving expats out, on purpose. That is because they seem to come with a political payload.
However, there is real and serious need there. The situation in the camps is really really messed up. Food, water, basic nutrition, chicken pox, Hepatitis A, worse and more. What I hear is that the situation is so bad that they’re scared to let people in. Because the people delivering the relief also seem to have a political role, which includes destabilizing the government.
This is tragic. Because the government can’t handle this massive displacement any more than Pakistan or, really, any country can.
Personally, I think the solution for the political stuff to be shelved, aid agencies to accept whatever security conditions and just go in. Supporting internment camps, war criminals – I never thought I’d say this – but whatever. If these kids don’t get proper nutrition in the next month they’re simply not going to grow up right. If people don’t get sutures, bone wax, and proper clamps then amputees won’t be able to attach prosthetics properly.
But yeah, people are allowed in. Mostly Sri Lankans. Honestly, the IC was on the other side for the whole war effort and they still seem to be fighting that battle. Again, the LTTE is holding civilians in the middle. This time in a media war.
Now that you mention it the response of the government is quite similar to that of Burma following cyclone Nargis and motivated by the same factor: fear.
They are leaving expats out, on purpose. That is because they seem to come with a political payload.
Not sure whether you mean Sri Lankan expats in the diaspora or foreign expats in Sri Lanka. Anyway, a group of pro-government (anti-LTTE) Danish Tamils were given a lovely guided tour of the camp. I guess they came with the right sort of political payload.
In any event, independent media access isn’t a priority. Independent aid worker access is. Whether the world knows about what’s happening isn’t as important as whether what’s happening is being fixed. I think we probably agree so far. Where we disagree is that I don’t think sucking up to the government will be productive in the long run, medium run or short run, because access that’s granted on the basis of sucking up is always conditional on continued sucking up, and I don’t think that’ll let aid workers do very much about fixing the problems that need fixing.
Honestly, the IC was on the other side for the whole war effort
If they were, they’d have lifted the ban on the LTTE, lifted the squeeze on LTTE fundraising and let the money and arms start flowing again.
Not giving Sri Lanka unconditional support does not equate to “being on the other side”.
I think it’s unfair for you to say the LTTE is holding civillians in the middle. At some point, you’re going to have to stop blaming the LTTE, the Tamil Diaspora, the IC, and whoever else you want to, and look within Sri Lanka for some of the responsibility.
The government is acting like children, and are using the lives of 300,000 civilians as bargaining chips to get what they want from the international community.
I agree that politics should be kept aside for now to help those people, but the government has to come at least some of they way. No donor wants to give to an ungracious recipient, and the GoSL cannot on one hand demonize NGOs, the IC, the Tamil Diaspora, media and then expect them to treat them favourably back. Ideally, politicians would rise above such pettiness for the greater good… but they’re not really known for that, are they.
If the GoSL genuinely cared about the people in those camps, which are on the brink of major health disasters, there are small steps they can take, which will increase the trust of donors and make flows of aid more forthcoming. such as opening up the camps to international aid organisations, transferring control from the military to civil orgs. But this will mean sacrificing some of their pride, sovereignty, and/or control. Compromises have to be made BY ALL SIDES for the greater good.
“Right now the government is scared. There are LTTE cadres in the camps, and LTTE supporters abroad are basically trying to indict and prosecute the government abroad. In response they are restricting access to the camps, and it has tragic consequences for the people in there. The right action now is to seriously congratulate the government, flatter them even, get the access you need and deliver the aid.”
How does
1) Being scared of LTTE cadres in camps
2) Fear of prosecution abroad (the HRC response is a joke anyway)
prevent independent media access?
Prosecution is not for the camps but for “war crimes” which may have or may have not occurred during the hostilities.
Why should we flatter a government for it to fulfill its own obligations to its people? If the government could spend millions/billions (i dunno the figure) winning the war. Can’t they spend half of that winning the peace? Access to deliver aid is there as you know Indi, not access to report conditions.
I’m afraid this is becoming an unstructured rant, but while I’m at it. As a Sri Lankan; congratulating the government for getting rid of the LTTE can be argued. But for killing my fellow brothers and sisters in the process is not defensible under any circumstances.
This government has a popular mandate and THEY JUST WON A 30 YEAR WAR. They have the support of most Sri Lankan people and honestly, however they did it, it is good that the country is unified without the LTTE. Perhaps because the west hasn’t lived with Al Qaeda in Wales or New Jersey, but it sucks and I’m glad that’s over.
The UK had to deal with terrorism in places like Wales and in small towns around the UK for a couple of decades, actually. Google “IRA bombing campaign.” They dealt with it without bombing South Armagh to smithereens or herding the entire population of the area into welfare villages tastefully decorated with borders of barbed wire.
Sri Lanka is getting off lightly. Can you imagine the outcry there’d be if Israel killed 6000+ Palestinian civilians and tossed the entire population of Gaza into camps for a period they said would be up to two years?
The IRA never occupied Wales. The British basically practiced terrorism in Northern Ireland, burning homes and buildings and opening fire at a football match on Bloody Sunday.
And, um, the majority of Gaza is in refugee camps. About 500,000 people according to the UN. This is ongoing for years. This year Israel killed over 1000 people in the space of a month, and God knows how many over the whole occupation.
The football match was in 1920- the Bloody Sunday you’re thinking about was in 1972 and involved a march. None of this is relevant to a discussion of how the UK handled terrorism during the IRA’s bombing campaign on the mainland, which was in the 1980s and 1990s. Or are you going to judge the GoSL’s current actions based on July, 1983? And yeah, the IRA pretty much ran South Armagh. Maybe the UK should have just bombed it out of existence and tossed all the residents into wirefenced camps for a couple of years while it sorted out who were and weren’t terrorists. I guess you’d have supported that, right?
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights says that 926 civillians were killed by Israel in the Gaza War (See http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/list.pdf ). In contrast, your guys killed 6500 civilians in the three months to April this year (and that was before the last round of fighting). OK? And I’m talking about the recent conflict in Gaza, not 1948 (I’m not and idiot – what happened in 1948 there is on a totally different order of magnitude to what happened this year in Sri Lanka, so don’t make it look as if I’m linking the two). The 1948 “camps” in Gaza, which is what you’re linking to, were created and maintained by the Egyptians at a time when Gaza was part of Egypt. They’re not surrounded by barbed wire and people can come and go. They’re like the IDP camps where the Muslims forced out of Jaffna by the LTTE live or where the Tamils “displaced” by your HSZs live, not the camps where the GoSL is herding Tamils now. Horrible, but not comparable. You’re dodging my question quite well. How would you feel if Israel had, in the recent Gaza war, killed 2000 civilians in a month, forced all the rest to leave their homes, and tossed them into camps where they were confined under armed guard until the Hamas members were weeded out? Would you still be saying the international community should stop condemning Israel who were just scared that there are still Hamas cadre around?
“And yeah, the IRA pretty much ran South Armagh. Maybe the UK should have just bombed it out of existence and tossed all the residents into wirefenced camps for a couple of years while it sorted out who were and weren’t terrorists. ”
Hmm, you mean like they did in Malaya, in the ’50s?
“How would you feel if Israel had, in the recent Gaza war, killed 2000 civilians in a month, forced all the rest to leave their homes, and tossed them into camps where they were confined under armed guard until the Hamas members were weeded out?”
Well, if Israel did that, maybe they could’ve got rid of Hamas. Sadly, the Israelis have forgotten how to win wars now that they have nukes.
Just to inject a bit of realism here. For both sides. If you think imposing sanctions and attempting to prosecute war crimes will somehow help the people in the IDP camps, go for it. It’ll take a few months to a few years from UN or EU tabling to actual implementation. By then, the GoSL would have resettled the IDPs and dismantled the camps. However, in the interim, many more civilians would have died of preventable causes. Working with the GoSL will at least save some lives. Sanctions will do nothing for the IDPs and, in fact, make things worse.
The GoSL isn’t the Khemer Rouge. It may be corrupt, paranoid, arrogant, and so many other things, but it’s a legit government with the infrastructure that can be used if worked right. Many of you wonder why the IDPs can’t just be turned loose. Well, despite what the GoSL and the media is saying, there are probably a lot of Tigers still out there. There are also a lot of landmines and unexploded ordnance, plus shitloads of weapons. Until a lot of this is cleared, no one’s going back in. The SL police and security services don’t have the ability to weed out the Tigers from a population in its natural environs, so they gotta do it in the camps.
The war crimes stuff will never happen. It just won’t. There is no case. If you can’t see the difference between conflicts like the former Jugolslavia, Sudan, and Rwanda on one side, and Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, and SL on the other, well, I guess you’re closing your eyes to reality. On one side it’s genocide, on the other it’s callous disregard, and however you wanna twist it, the latter just won’t make it to the Hague.
On the SL side, we need to chill too. For the above reasons. We need to finish screening the IDPs ASAP and start letting the world in. We need to stop being so paranoid and defensive. I think this’ll all happen in due course. It’s barely two weeks since we topped VP.
Hmm, you mean like they did in Malaya, in the ’50s?
Don’t forget the Mau-Mau uprising or the Devil’s Wind. None of that was in the 1980s and definitely not the 2000s. You could have cited Fallujah where a similar number of civilians died, if that’s the way you wanted to go, but again, this is beside the point. The point isn’t that the West is lily white. But Indi seemed to be saying that the west shouldn’t condemn Sri Lanka because they’d never had to deal with terrorists on their own soil. And that isn’t true; the West has had to deal with terrorism at home, and they’ve done so without using the Sri Lankan Army’s tactics.
Working with the GoSL will at least save some lives.
Working with the GoSL is essential, and unavoidable. Sucking up to the GoSL and blindly, unquestioningly toeing their line as Indi is saying we should be doing is not, and will be counter-productive. Not giving blind, unquestioning support doesn’t mean you want sanctions and prosecution for war crimes.
The SL police and security services don’t have the ability to weed out the Tigers from a population in its natural environs, so they gotta do it in the camps.
And this is why. I do not trust the government to do this fairly or properly. This mantra of “don’t criticise the government, don’t criticise the government, don’t criticise the government” grates. Just unconditionally accept everything the government does, and do nothing when you see abuses happen because if you say a word you’ll not be allowed to give aid?
“the West has had to deal with terrorism at home, and they’ve done so without using the Sri Lankan Army’s tactics.”
Well, they haven’t had to deal with terrorism at home on the scale we have had to. The PIRA never occupied any territory in the British isles. Neither did AQ in the USA. When they had to face actual guerrilla forces, they met them with force, be it France in Algeria, or the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even against the PIRA, Britain never hesitated to use hit squads to perform extra-judicial killings — remember the PIRA trio killed in Gibraltar? I think there’s a difference between criticism and condemnation, no?
Why is everyone being so polarized in their opinions? Why must it be condemnation or sucking up — is there no middle ground? No one’s asking anyone to suck up. Just cooperate to achieve a common goal — resettling and normalizing the NE.
You may not trust the GoSL to do many things — very few people do, I think. But there’s stuff we all want done — and I think getting it done is important. Throwing stones won’t achieve anything. The west’s practically given up on Burma and N Korea. There’s only so far you can push a country before you lose all leverage. We were hoping that some of the muscle being flexed at us now would’ve been used against the Tigers when it was needed. A lot of lives could’ve been saved in the last year. But the western media and the bodies like the UN did bugger all. It was very disappointing for us who consider ourselves moderates, who don’t necessarily agree with everything the GoSL does. And now it’s almost as if the western media is being vindictive (which they aren’t) and I find even people like myself being polarized.
It’s not a case of “don’t criticize”. It’s a case of getting the job done. Right now I feel that there’s gotta be a balance.
Thank you for those sensible, calming words, David. There’s nothing in your post I could disagree with.
@Vadakathayan: “The UK had to deal with terrorism in places like Wales and in small towns around the UK for a couple of decades, actually. Google “IRA bombing campaign.” They dealt with it without bombing South Armagh to smithereens or herding the entire population of the area into welfare villages tastefully decorated with borders of barbed wire.”
I did Google it – and this is what I found on the Wikipedia page “The IRA only struck at targets in England”. Also, BBC carries a similar line “there have never been any attacks in Scotland or Wales”.
So where did you get the part about Wales?
Secondly, even if the IRA did bomb wales – your method of trying to compare GoSL v LTTE to the British response to the IRA’s (supposed) campaign in Wales, and to the Israel action in Gaza is clever, but irrelevant. All these wars have their own idiosyncrasies, historical foundations and path dependencies.
GoSL perceived it was facing an existential threat – which the British at no time ever did vs the IRA. Its a ludicrous comparison. – The only similarities are that armed militants in the north fought against a state actor in the south.
Israel is again another totally different situation. “How would you feel if Israel had, in the recent Gaza war, killed 2000 civilians in a month, forced all the rest to leave their homes, and tossed them into camps where they were confined under armed guard until the Hamas members were weeded out?” – well lets just see:
Gaza and West Bank have been repeatedly attacked by Israel, in a very unequal fight (in terms of weapons and funding), with Israel secure of US backing militarily and politically. The purpose of the attacks have a 100% objective to secure *Israel* – there are no secondary objectives to free territory, or to help the Palestinians. It is official Israeli policy to keep WB/Gaza blockaded for “security” reasons. If you have ever been to Israel, its very jarring to see the first-world infrastructure of Israel against the abject third-world poverty of the WB&Gaza. There is a massive wall, much larger & secure than anything in East Germany during the Cold War, which separates Israel from Gaza. – If you are talking about “open-air prisons”- Gaza is the largest of its kind. Israel sees Palestinian territories as foreign soil, and is occupying/blockading and stifling the economies of these territories for its own security.
W/o getting into the the merits of whether Israel is justified or not (we already have one situation on our hands here) – How does this compare to GoSL v LTTE? – Security is primary objective yes in the push to defeat the LTTE, but so too is liberating territory, and removing the local population from the grasp of the LTTE. Nor, AFAIK, are there plans to perpetually keep the northern tamils as in some kind of destitute servitude. There are no plans, physically or economically, to build a wall from Chilaw to Vavu to Trinco.
Indi was not trying to say “the west shouldn’t condemn Sri Lanka because they’d never had to deal with terrorists on their own soil”. There are “terrorists” and there are “terrorists”. His point is that the US & EU have not had to face a situation like Sri Lanka’s. IRA, Baader Meinhof, Red Brigades, Al Queda are very different to the Sri Lankan situation.
Yakkada: I’m not going to quibble about details.
Indi: I’m sorry about the uncharacteristically strong (and rude) comments I made on this thread. I hope you’ll understand that this is an immensely stressful time for those of us who have loved ones missing in the conflict zone, and that tension just boils over sometimes. That doesn’t excuse letting it boil over at you.
For “details” read “this topic”.
I can’t say I fully understand it from that perspective, but I try to. I’m sorry for your loss. I consider it ours.
Though, with all due respect, the only real crime in war is losing.
Really? So killing civilians, shelling hospitals, murdering surrendered combatants and generally butchering folks just coz is fine?
Any truth in this?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVoaDFmbCYS-Usz9ACDRIengj21QD98AJ9E00
Maybe we need to just take a step back.
Indi is actually trying to help people, he is doing a lot more than most, including perhaps a number of commentators here, myself included.
There seems to be huge problem and funds are in short supply.
Maybe what is needed is dialogue between the local outfits helping the IDP’s and the international agencies, so that some funds can be channeled through local units? Also perhaps some dialogue with them embassies of a few countries, again with a view to sending some aid via local organisations?
Properly sold, to the right people, it may work.
That’s prolly a good idea. Locals have much more access to internationals.
I wanted to answer Ravana question above here, but indi.ca was down, so I posted a my take on it on my own blog.