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COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, June 10, 2005: Sri Lankan police have used teargas and water cannons to try to disperse Buddhist monks blockading the residence of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The monks are protesting against a proposed deal with Tamil Tiger rebels over some $2bn of tsunami relief aid (to areas of Hindu, Christian and Muslim Tamils). The government hopes to finalise the deal soon. A key party in the ruling coalition, the JVP, has threatened to quit next week if the government proceeds with the agreement. The Sinhala-nationalist JVP and the monks fear the deal could lead to a separate Tamil nation. Riot police were rushed to President Kumaratunga’s residence after the monks started their blockade. One of the monks threatened to set himself on fire as part of the protest. The monks are highly influential in Sri Lanka where 70% of the island is Buddhist. They have handed over a letter to the president’s office and had said they would not go until they received a satisfactory reply from the president. Senior monks have been holding talks inside the resident with Ms. Kumaratunga. Earlier in the week some monks began what they described as a fast-to-the-death in protest against the government. The monks started the blockade shortly after the Sinhala-nationalist JVP party told the government they would pull out of the coalition by next Thursday if the government goes ahead with the deal with the Tamil Tigers.



It is nearly six months since 31,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka in the tsunami and some 500,000 people left homeless. But the vast bulk of the promised international aid has not reached badly hit areas under the control of the Tamil Tigers because of arguments over who should control aid distribution. However, in recent weeks President Kumaratunga has said that a deal with the Tamil Tigers is close. That has led to renewed protests from the JVP. “If the president is not going to withdraw this idea, we shall be leaving the government on 16 June,” JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe was quoted as saying by Associated Press. “This is a violation of the sovereignty of the country. We will not allow it,” he said. There was no immediate comment from the government. The JVP has 39 seats in Sri Lanka’s 225-member parliament, and President Kumaratunga’s government could collapse if it withdrew support. President Kumaratunga has said the proposed aid mechanism was purely an administrative tool to share out money. Last month she said an aid-sharing deal with the Tamil Tigers could also help “open many doors to a final peace.” A ceasefire between the rebels and the government came into effect in February 2002, but peace talks ground to a halt in April of the following year.

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