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Sri Lanka refuses help...

685 views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  DaryLLL 
#1 ·
I don't know much about politics
, but I got this in an email:

From This morning's Debka File: Sri Lanka refused to accept Israeli relief team of 150 doctors, nurses, medicines and equipment ready early Tuesday to fly complete field hospital to stricken country. Colombo which has no diplomatic relations with Israel would only accept supplies. Israeli planes took off with medical equipment, tents and other supplies - without desperately needed medical personnel

Of course, maybe it's not even true...
But if it is, could someone explain to me WHY they would turn away help?!
 
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#4 ·
Wow. I'm pretty much scared to say anything here and get flamed for my views or my ignorance of something, but this seems so wrong.

If your people, your children, are starving, dying, homeless... How do you turn away help!?

I know they might be enemies or whatever, but maybe helping/accepting help would be a step towards changing that.
 
#5 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Faith
If your people, your children, are starving, dying, homeless... How do you turn away help!?
I know they might be enemies or whatever, but maybe helping/accepting help would be a step towards changing that.
I know - this seams like the right thing, but gifts pretty much always have strings attached. Otherwise, it would seem like a simple solution. This, I believe, is the political part - I am sure that Sri Lanka would help their starving children if were that simple, but most likely there would be serious conditions attached.

Man, I could never go into politics because I am too opinionated and have a hard time keeping it to myself some of the time.
 
#7 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by mimid
Sri Lanka is a predominately Muslim country. In response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they have been boycotting Israeli products and this is just an extension of that policy.
Well, of course. That is a much more simple explaination than I expected. I suppose it makes perfect sense if you are a part of that.
...to not be ethnocentric.
 
#9 ·
The same thing happened after last year's earthquake in Bam, Iran. The Iranian government also refused entry to Israeli rescue teams. Particularly offensive IMO when you consider that Israeli rescue units are considered to be among the most effective (and unfortunately among the most experienced) in the world.

I guess there are some places in the world where playing politics is important than saving lives.

 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by mimid
Sri Lanka is a predominately Muslim country. In response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they have been boycotting Israeli products and this is just an extension of that policy.
This just in:

Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist. The northern Tamils are Hindu (which makes up 15%). A small minority are Christian and Muslim (approx 7% each).

I heard they have refused some int'l help b/c they actually have some infrastruture, and a lot of support from India. But they have been in a north/south civil war for 20 yrs and I am sure their political situaion is complex and volitile.
 
#11 ·
Quote:
gifts pretty much always have strings attached. Otherwise, it would seem like a simple solution. This, I believe, is the political part - I am sure that Sri Lanka would help their starving children if were that simple, but most likely there would be serious conditions attached.
yes.. "strings" like trying for peace. Like accepting that all jews/israelis are not the devil and don't need to be destroyed.
i think its horribly sad that they'll turn away help for their starving, their injured, their dyeing and dead because they dont' want to allow any peace with Israel

disgusting
 
#13 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Faith
Wow. I'm pretty much scared to say anything here and get flamed for my views or my ignorance of something, but this seems so wrong.

If your people, your children, are starving, dying, homeless... How do you turn away help!?

I know they might be enemies or whatever, but maybe helping/accepting help would be a step towards changing that.
ITA with the above.
I also heard this last week on all the cable news stations & do NOT understand it
 
#14 ·
thank you for explaining the situation. i hope people notice this


Quote:

Originally Posted by DaryLLL
This just in:

Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist. The northern Tamils are Hindu (which makes up 15%). A small minority are Christian and Muslim (approx 7% each).

I heard they have refused some int'l help b/c they actually have some infrastruture, and a lot of support from India. But they have been in a north/south civil war for 20 yrs and I am sure their political situaion is complex and volitile.
 
#15 ·
am I to understand they accepted goods but not human services? Not to be callous but if I strongly disliked one of you, and you offered me a cake and to come clean my house after I'd had a traumatic thing happen, I couldn't very well accept the cake but not the help cleaning my house.

That doesn't make any sense to me at all.
 
#16 ·
FINE, i found the link.

Quote:
India has been flooded with "generous offers of aid" from countries like Russia, the United States, Israel and Japan, said the official who did not want to be named.

"In fact, all friendly nations have offered help but we feel we do have the resources to handle the situation. If at a later stage we feel we need assistance we will not hesitate to ask," said the source on Wednesday.

"Right now we not only have adequate resources but have gone out and mounted a huge relief effort for Sri Lanka and Maldives. We could not have done this if we were facing a problem in Indian relief operations."
 
#17 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Colorful~Mama
yes.. "strings" like trying for peace. Like accepting that all jews/israelis are not the devil and don't need to be destroyed.
i think its horribly sad that they'll turn away help for their starving, their injured, their dyeing and dead because they dont' want to allow any peace with Israel

disgusting
Well, I guess I am was just saying that we don't know the whole story. It seems like a cut-and-dry situation but we don't know the whole story. I am trying to make sense of it like everyone else. I am not in anyway saying there is a good reason for not helping dying children. It is easy to sit back and judge, but that doesn't seem right either, KWIM? I am trying to do my part.
 
#18 ·
So India and Sri Lanka supposedly are both rejecting aid from foreign countries? Pehaps just from gov'ts, but not from private orgs?

If Sri Lanka has no diplomatic relations (acc to the OP's anonymous email) with Israel, they surely don't need to start it now at this time of crisis! Surely a country embroiled in a 20 yr civil war and natural disaster doesn't need to borrow trouble from the Middle East!

Drs Without Borders in India and Sri Lanka:

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org...-31-2004.shtml

Quote:
Sri Lanka

MSF has sent 19 aid workers, including doctors, surgeons, nurses, and logisticians, to Sri Lanka. Additional staff are en route. A charter plane with 40 tons of aid supplies arrived today [Dec 31] in the capital Colombo. In addition to relief materials, the cargo contains the equipment and supplies to set up three hospitals to care for 30,000 people for a period of three months.

One of the MSF teams is assessing the situation in Ampara, also in the eastern province, to determine the needs of the people affected by the disaster. They are distributing non-food items and opening mobile clinics. At least 5,700 people in the district were killed and more than 90,000 have been displaced. Another MSF team is conducting an assessment of the situation in the eastern coastal town of Batticaloa, where the United Nations estimates that more that 650 people have died and 40,000 more have been left homeless.

India

An MSF team is conducting an assessment in Chennai, the capital city of India's Tamil Nadu state, and further south to Nagapattinam district and the city of Pondicherry. The coastal area has been severely affected and families are still searching for missing people. There has been a strong response from the government and local communities.
I believe India has a pretty good infrastructure. Lots of poverty, but lots of wealth too (kind of like the US?).
 
#19 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by DaryLLL
I believe India has a pretty good infrastructure. Lots of poverty, but lots of wealth too (kind of like the US?).
It's my impression that we have a much greater middle class in the US, and out poor are nearly that dirt poot in most cases - we have a relatively reasonable government support network.
 
#20 ·
The way I see this situation is that supplies and monetary aid are very welcome but what are they supposed to do with MORE people? They have lots of people and not a whole lot of dry land. There is flooding going on in Sri Lanka right now. Where are these medical teams supposed to pitch tents? In places that the Sri Lankans would like to be?
I have donated money to a local organization in South India that is known for distributing food during floods. They are stepping up their efforts and bringing food to the people affected by this disaster and every donation helps them get more food and transport it. They are monks and therefore are free to spend as much time as needed on this effort.
 
#21 ·
more

Quote:
Veterans of a long guerrilla war, the Tamil rebels who control northern Sri Lanka moved with military precision to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

The speed and efficiency of the massive humanitarian operation showed an administrative capability that underscored the rebels' demand for Tamil independence from the Sinhalese-dominated southern part of Sri Lanka.

Within minutes of the disaster, soldiers of the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, were evacuating survivors and pulling bodies from the still-roiling water, villagers and aid workers said.

In a well-practiced drill, squads set up roadblocks to control panic and prevent looting. Others requisitioned civilian vehicles to move the injured to hospitals. Many donated blood.

Teams with digital cameras and laptops moved into disaster zones to photograph the faces of the dead for later identification, then swiftly cremated or buried the corpses.
 
#22 ·
That's great mshollyk.

It sounds like parts of Sri Lanka are doing fine with aid, or even have a surplus, while other parts do not have enough help. The most urgent need now, is for the efforts (region-wide) to be co-ordinated. There is too much chaos and bottlenecking.

I think for people to shake a finger at Sri Lanka for refusing help (for whatever imagined reason) is a red herring.

Quote:
the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, expressed hope that a one-day donors' summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday would improve how international aid is being coordinated to help Asian countries recover from the tsunamis.

For example, some parts of Sri Lanka have a surplus of aid, while others have not enough, Azrul Mohamad Khalib, a Kuala Lumpur-based ICRC spokesman, told a news conference.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapc....ap/index.html
 
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