Violence mars Sri Lanka tsunami recovery 2 yrs on

Colombo, Dec 26: Church and temple bells will toll across SriLanka today for the victims of the 2004 tsunami but commemorationceremonies in rebel-held areas, which were the worst hit, will bedeliberately low-key.

While the Sinhalese dominated south has picked up the pieces andmoved quickly to rebuild, the war-torn, Tamil Tiger-controllednortheast which took the brunt of the waves has been left pretty muchon its own.

A resurgence in Sri Lanka's long-running civil war this year hasadded to the sense of desperation in the east, with thousands of Tamilsincluding tsunami survivors fleeing homes and camps for the second timein two years.

''There isn't much to show for by way of reconstruction, thereisn't much to commemorate when you have barely moved an inch,'' said aWestern aid official involved in the tsunami relief.

S P Puleedevan, the head of the peace secretariate of theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam told Reuters by telephone from the defacto rebel capital of Kilinochchi that there was going to be a tsunamiceremony but he did not give any details.

President Mahinda Rajpakse and Prime Minister RatnasiriWickremanayake were due to travel to Galle and nearby Paraliya in thesouth for ceremonies to remember the more than 35,000 people who diedin the country's worst natural disaster.

The government has urged Sri Lankans to observe two minutes of silence at the precise moment the tsunami struck two years ago.

Traffic will come to a halt and bells will ring out. Some Sri Lankans will also light candles.

The government says that 98 per cent of the tsunami reconstructionin the country's south is complete, amounting to nearly 25,000 houses.

But in the east less than half of the planned 60,000 houses havebeen completed, while in the Tamil Tiger-held north -- cut off from therest of the island because of the conflict -- less than 30 percent ofhouses for tsunami-displaced are finished.

''While the tsunami affected Sinhala people are resettling in newhomes, the worst affected Tamils are being chased even from theirtemporary shelters,'' the LTTE said in a lengthy statement issued onthe eve of the tsunami anniversary.

It accused the government of deliberately neglecting Tamils who itsaid made up two-thirds of those affected by the tsunami. ''Thegovernment treated the tsunami as a welcome means of destroying theTamil people,'' the LTTE said.

But aid agencies said both the military and Tigers hamper accessto conflict areas, and artillery duels have made it too dangerous foraid workers to operate, forcing many organisations to shelve or abandontsunami projects altogether.

''The tsunami could have been a turning point in the conflict, ifboth parties had agreed on an aid-sharing pact,'' said the Western aidofficial. ''Instead it has now become another point of division.''

Reuters