Sri Lanka (MNN)–Very little news is coming out of Sri Lanka as their civil war progresses.
What is known is that the government and Tamil Tiger rebels have now been locked for three weeks in the first ground fighting since a 2002 ceasefire.
That’s a significant concern for the World Evangelical Alliance. The lack of information makes it hard for agencies to know best how to respond to the corresponding humanitarian troubles.
Thousands are displaced, and the WEA staff is working hard to send supplies, relief aid and medicines to the war affected areas. A more recent Human Rights Watch report indicated 500,000 residents are trapped in the Jaffna Peninsula and face dwindling supplies of food and water.
Two churches and several schools where people were taking refuge got caught in the shelling and were badly damaged. And, according to the General Secretary of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, the most affected are the women and children. Many are being conscripted forcibly to fight, including children.
While there have been repeated calls entreating a return to ceasefire conditions, little other action appears to be making impression. Pray for fellow Christians as they seek to meet physical and spiritual needs in this time of crisis.
