Despite an official ceasefire, Sri Lanka’s lengthy internal conflict has intensified. In the last two weeks, 136,000 people fled their homes to seek protection in refugee camps. Among those displaced were at least 83 Christian families and eight Gospel for Asia missionaries.
Over the last 15 months, 4,000 people have died in the conflict between Sri Lanka’s government and the insurgent group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Civilians are continually caught in the middle of this conflict, as suicide bombers, mines and mortar bombs are common and indiscriminate forms of attack. The escalating situation saw the LTTE, for the first time, launch an aerial strike against the government airport on March 26, killing three airmen and wounding 16 others.
The prospects for a peaceful resolution to this situation seem unlikely. The BBC quoted Sri Lanka’s official government military spokesman, Brigadier Prasad Samarasing, as saying, “We are left with no option but to intensify our operations to silence their guns.”
In the past six months, the government has cleared out several Tamil Tiger strongholds in Batticaloa in the east. The fighting has forced thousands to leave their crops, schooling and homes to find shelter in government-run areas. However, there is not enough sanitation, housing or food for the displaced, which some estimate to be as many as 160,000.
The Sri Lankan people are still recovering from the massive tsunami that wiped out huge areas of East Sri Lanka in December 2004. For many of them, the life they rebuilt was left behind again when they fled.
GFA’s Sri Lanka leader, Lal Vanderwall, says the 83 families and eight pastors who were displaced see this as an opportunity to share the hope they have in Christ with their fellow refugees. While they face the same dangers and discomforts as the others, they are trusting the Lord to work through the nightmarish situation.
Lal asks for prayer for the Lord to protect the lives of all the refugees and bring many to salvation.