Cease fire
Cease fire
Posted 01:04am (Mla time) Jan 23, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the January 23, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE NEWS from tsunami-stricken areas has taken a disturbing, if not unexpected, twist in recent weeks. Renewed fighting between government troops and insurgents in some parts of Indonesia and Sri Lanka has effectively held relief operations hostage. The violence threatens to complicate rehabilitation in the two countries most severely damaged by the Dec. 26 calamities.
The news also reminds us, as we struggle with our own relief and rehabilitation efforts in eastern Luzon, that we must do all we can to prevent the same violence from overtaking the most affected areas. The Philippine National Red Cross has the right idea: A six-month ceasefire between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the New People's Army operating in the area offers the best form of prevention.
In Aceh, the Indonesian province hit hardest by the Dec. 26 earthquake, the fighting has already gone back to pre-calamity levels. According to the Indonesian military, government troops killed about 120 Acehnese rebels in the last two weeks.
Indonesia's top general defended the military action, saying the rebels were killed because they were interfering with relief operations. "We cannot allow that to happen. We have to be able to guarantee that aid workers-foreigners and Indonesians-are safe to do their work," Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said.
But the foreign press reports that the flow of aid has not in fact been disrupted. And the Aceh rebels' spokesman said only 20 rebels had been killed, and accused Jakarta of killing over a hundred civilians.
The clashes, however, may yet cause an early withdrawal of US military presence in the province. A decision to recall the 16 US Navy ships off the coast of Sumatra, possibly to get the 11,000 American soldiers on the ground conducting relief work out of harm's way, will be an unbearable setback for the relief operation. American helicopters carry the main burden of distributing relief aid.
The situation in Sri Lanka, which has an even older insurgency, is not as grim, but the ceasefire between government forces and Tamil Tigers is wearing dangerously thin. Both sides have accused each other of interfering with relief work. Tamils are reported to have hijacked relief goods allocated to the Sinhalese, while Sinhalese have been reported to have stopped relief caravans bound for northern Sri Lanka, Tamil territory.
Chillingly, these reports do not strike us as unfamiliar.
Late last year, while the country was still in storm shock, the NPA attacked an AFP infantry unit that was on its way to rescue flood victims in Bulacan. Ten soldiers died; six others were injured. The NPA offered a lame excuse for its ambush: The soldiers, it said, were on a military mission.
All told, over a thousand people perished in the floods and mudslides last November and early December. But the deaths of the 10 soldiers were a special case. For one thing, they had put themselves in harm's way. They were on their way to a calamity zone. For another, the NPA's attempt to justify the ambush and diminish their sacrifice ended up doing the exact opposite.
Could the same thing happen again? Could an armed encounter, initiated by either side, interfere with the slogging work of relief and rehabilitation? Because the seven most affected towns are inside or near NPA-contested territory, the answer can only be "Yes."
The communist insurgency has smoldered in parts of eastern Luzon for decades, and the citizens of Infanta, General Nakar, Real, Dingalan, Baler, San Luis and Maria Aurora have seen their share of the fighting. To get back on their feet, to recover from the trauma that overran their lives, they need the fighting to stop-if not for good, then at least for a few months.
Both relief agencies and peace advocates call it a "six-month humanitarian ceasefire." In the Red Cross' reckoning, six months is the absolute minimum needed to complete the relief campaign and begin the rehabilitation work in earnest. But it is also enough time for concerned citizens, both in the seven towns and outside, to plant the seeds of lasting peace.
We add our voice to the growing chorus. Cease fire!
Posted 01:04am (Mla time) Jan 23, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the January 23, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE NEWS from tsunami-stricken areas has taken a disturbing, if not unexpected, twist in recent weeks. Renewed fighting between government troops and insurgents in some parts of Indonesia and Sri Lanka has effectively held relief operations hostage. The violence threatens to complicate rehabilitation in the two countries most severely damaged by the Dec. 26 calamities.
The news also reminds us, as we struggle with our own relief and rehabilitation efforts in eastern Luzon, that we must do all we can to prevent the same violence from overtaking the most affected areas. The Philippine National Red Cross has the right idea: A six-month ceasefire between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the New People's Army operating in the area offers the best form of prevention.
In Aceh, the Indonesian province hit hardest by the Dec. 26 earthquake, the fighting has already gone back to pre-calamity levels. According to the Indonesian military, government troops killed about 120 Acehnese rebels in the last two weeks.
Indonesia's top general defended the military action, saying the rebels were killed because they were interfering with relief operations. "We cannot allow that to happen. We have to be able to guarantee that aid workers-foreigners and Indonesians-are safe to do their work," Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said.
But the foreign press reports that the flow of aid has not in fact been disrupted. And the Aceh rebels' spokesman said only 20 rebels had been killed, and accused Jakarta of killing over a hundred civilians.
The clashes, however, may yet cause an early withdrawal of US military presence in the province. A decision to recall the 16 US Navy ships off the coast of Sumatra, possibly to get the 11,000 American soldiers on the ground conducting relief work out of harm's way, will be an unbearable setback for the relief operation. American helicopters carry the main burden of distributing relief aid.
The situation in Sri Lanka, which has an even older insurgency, is not as grim, but the ceasefire between government forces and Tamil Tigers is wearing dangerously thin. Both sides have accused each other of interfering with relief work. Tamils are reported to have hijacked relief goods allocated to the Sinhalese, while Sinhalese have been reported to have stopped relief caravans bound for northern Sri Lanka, Tamil territory.
Chillingly, these reports do not strike us as unfamiliar.
Late last year, while the country was still in storm shock, the NPA attacked an AFP infantry unit that was on its way to rescue flood victims in Bulacan. Ten soldiers died; six others were injured. The NPA offered a lame excuse for its ambush: The soldiers, it said, were on a military mission.
All told, over a thousand people perished in the floods and mudslides last November and early December. But the deaths of the 10 soldiers were a special case. For one thing, they had put themselves in harm's way. They were on their way to a calamity zone. For another, the NPA's attempt to justify the ambush and diminish their sacrifice ended up doing the exact opposite.
Could the same thing happen again? Could an armed encounter, initiated by either side, interfere with the slogging work of relief and rehabilitation? Because the seven most affected towns are inside or near NPA-contested territory, the answer can only be "Yes."
The communist insurgency has smoldered in parts of eastern Luzon for decades, and the citizens of Infanta, General Nakar, Real, Dingalan, Baler, San Luis and Maria Aurora have seen their share of the fighting. To get back on their feet, to recover from the trauma that overran their lives, they need the fighting to stop-if not for good, then at least for a few months.
Both relief agencies and peace advocates call it a "six-month humanitarian ceasefire." In the Red Cross' reckoning, six months is the absolute minimum needed to complete the relief campaign and begin the rehabilitation work in earnest. But it is also enough time for concerned citizens, both in the seven towns and outside, to plant the seeds of lasting peace.
We add our voice to the growing chorus. Cease fire!
posted by Dante at 2:35 PM
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