Recipe for ethnic conflict

The other night there was an accident in Sammanthurai, a town just next to mine. I’ve heard several versions of the story and cannot rise much above heresay at this point, but this is the gist of the story… A truck driver hit someone, the person was badly injured but alive. The driver, a Sinhala man, was scared that the Muslim residents of the area would attack him if they caught him so he sped off. In the process he hit and killed two others in the road. He was then caught by residents of the area who attacked him and killed his assistant. The police intervened and too him and the the Muslim residents he hit to the hospital in my town, Ampara. The next morning in Ampara, residents of Sammanthurai came to retrieve the bodies of Muslim victims of the accident at the hospital but were blocked from doing so. Someone burned two of their motorcycles. Things got ugly. Later that night someone attacked a Muslim on another motorcycle.

If Betty Crocker had a recipe book for ethnic conflict, this would be in it. Dead bodies not allowed to be buried= recipe for disaster. Ethnically inflammatory rumor mills love this sort of thing. Almost immediately rumors circulated of gangs ready to attack any Muslims coming through the area. Shops closed down. Buses stopped running, and the few that tried to run had rocks thrown at them. Police set up check points blocking the road between Ampara town and the predominantly Muslim coast. We had to cancel meetings, and our Muslim staff couldn’t come to work.

Fortunately today things seemed to be clearing up. New rumors… this time of bodies about to be buried. Mediation sessions taking place between Sinhala and Muslim community leaders. Much more benevolent rumors. It seems so far we have adverted complete disaster. But the speed at which things can rachet up here between communities that aren’t even the principle rivals in the area is a bit breathtaking. Generally, when people mention communal tensions here, it is either Tamil-Muslim or Tamil-Sinhala. But this week we’ve added Muslim-Sinhala to the puzzle. As if things weren’t complicated enough. Not that these communities were ever healthily integrated before, but little incidents like these underline the fragility of the ethnic patchwork of this region. I still feel safe in Ampara but finally the adage that nothing ever happens IN Ampara is glumly slinking down the drain.