Trouble in Paradise - April 2006

Ok, so some of you may have heard about the recent troubles that have been brewing in Sri Lanka over the past few months. I thought I would share some stories from the events of April 2006 in Trincomalee before they are potentially eclipsed by future events. Things have been heating up in Sri Lanka and Trinco for months now but things in April really exploded. For example, on April 12th, a bomb was detonated within the main vegetable market in the center of Trinco town. Civilian riots ensued and over 20 shops and several vehicles were burned. There were reports of looting of shops and rape of civilians during these riots and approximately 20 persons were killed. Several days of civil unrest followed the 12th April bomb attack including neighborhood mobs attacking and setting fire to houses in the areas surrounding Trinco town and there were several grenade and claymore mine attacks. I decided to leave Trinco for a few days to let the situation calm down and went to Colombo.


A vehicle and shop that had been burned out during the riots that followed the market blast.

Ouch.... A hand full of vehicles and ~ 20 shops received this fate.

This is a shot taken looking up Central Rd five days after the blast and riots. It was strange to see the bustling center of town to be so deserted.

The day I returned to Trinco, the LTTE bombed army HQ in Colombo and then the army started aerial bombing and shelling the LTTE controlled area next to Trinco. Yes, it was an experience; sitting on my veranda watching rockets fire over the harbor and listing to 135mm artillery guns fire every few mins. Jets were even turning over my house (not bombing here) to return to their targets 10 miles south. After a night an exciting night of shelling, I decided to move into a hotel in town next to my boss’s because he figures it is safer for me there. The cool thing is that I keep meeting these journalists there that are finally coming to cover the things happening in Trinco. The reporting has been pretty bad in terms of being balanced and fair. Most of the information coming from the international news agencies seems to be reported from the gov. Until recently there have been very few reporters coming to the district. Most of the reporters are from Colombo. Anyway, this guy was staying at my hotel and I ask him if he is covering blast at the market (two weeks before this now). He said yeah. So I asked if he new about all these nasty things that happened (that everyone in Trinco knows about) but aren’t getting reported? he said “uh, no... but we cant just print rumors because people say it”. At this point I want to throttle his neck. I mean, isn’t this the job of reporters: to go and in-vest-i-gate potential reports of wrong doings; talk to the people etc? So, I told him that these are not rumors, these people exist, you just need to go talk to them. I hooked him up this a man that had a "real story", and it made it to press the next day (London Guardian)! JUSTICE. The first 5 paragraphs pertain to the atrocities that were not being reported previously.

This is the view from the hotel that I stayed in for a week following the aerial attacks. It actually was a nice place to be. I could watch the boys play cricket in hte afternoon before the curfew was enforced. Also watched (painfully) as the army harrassed and beat some civilians traveling down the road...ugh.