Misreading the Post-tsunami Political Landscape in Sri Lanka: The Myth of Humanitarian Space

Abstract

The 2004 tsunami is one of several recent high profile natural disasters that raise important questions about ‘disaster geopolitics’ or the relationship between humanitarian assistance for victims of natural disasters and the stabilisation of political spaces. In Sri Lanka, it was thought that a ‘silver lining’ would result from the collaborative effort on behalf of victims of the tsunami by the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, belligerents in a decades-old war. Ultimately, however, the contest over tsunami aid deepened the rift between the two sides. This paper considers this misreading of the post-tsunami political landscape in Sri Lanka by examining two key spatial assumptions contained in popular humanitarian discourses: that humanitarian space can be identified, represented and maintained separately from political space, and that humanitarian relations are confined to the places where a disaster has occurred and chiefly serve its victims. Several key events are highlighted in the paper including the curtailed visit of the UN Secretary General in January 2005 and the failure of the Post-tsunami Operational Management Structure, a mechanism designed to allow both parties to the conflict to distribute aid. The paper concludes with a discussion on the difficulties of setting politics aside even during times of humanitarian crisis.