US ANNOUNCES US $ 8 MILLION TO RESETTLE IDP S IN SRI LANKA
Posted on July 27th, 2009
By Walter Jayawardhana
The United States announced it would grant US $ 8 million to help hasten the internally displaced persons nowƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ living in government camps.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The US Assistant Secretary of state for refugees, Eric P. Schwartz who visited the Manik Farm , in VavuniyaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ made the announcement and said that the US was granting this money for the recovery and resettlement for nearly 280,000 people in the camps.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The IDPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s are from the former Tamil Tiger held areas who were allegedly used as human shield and fled to the Sri Lanka government held areasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ when the LTTE fell in may , this year after more than 25 years.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Schwartz said he met President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other officials and they informed him that a substantial number of those in the camps would be resettled during the coming month.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He said the government has invited him to return to observe the progress of the resettlement and would do so.