Rehabilitation of North:

International donors to play supplementary role

Rasika Somarathna

*Govt’s aim to provide better facilities for displaced

*North and East to be developed as commercial hubs

The Government has told international donors that they should only play a supplementary role to the agenda’s mooted by local authorities, when it comes to enacting relief and rehabilitation efforts, targeting displaced people in the north.

Addressing a UN sponsored donor meeting in Colombo on Monday, which intends to raise US $ 50 million to supplement the immediate humanitarian needs of the IDPs, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that the expected aid would be spent to sustain the relief action plan which is already in operation.

The Minister who chaired the meeting also stressed, that the international agencies which wish to contribute to the cause, had to work in line with Government plans and priorities. While noting that the Government has taken all possible measures to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the displaced, numbering almost 200,000, the Minister said that the intention of seeking international aid was to sustain the effort.

According to Ministry sources, he had also told donors and UN representatives, that the intention of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Government was to provide displaced northern residents with facilities better than ones which they enjoyed before.

He has brought to the notice of the gathering that the Government intends to develop both North and East as key commercial hubs in the country during the post conflict era, to provide residents access to quality livelihood opportunities similar to the ones enjoyed by the rest of the country.

He appealed to the donor community to consider funding the immediate humanitarian needs as well as post conflict rehabilitation/development efforts in the conflict ravaged north.

Sri Lanka’s efforts to garner international support to supplement the immediate humanitarian needs of the displaced civilian influx has had a very positive response.

The Japanese Government recently said they would provide a grant of US $ 04 million to supplement the immediate humanitarian needs of the displaced.

In addition Japan has also pledged to ship 6,255 MT of rice and 132 tonnes of canned fish in May.

India too said recently that they would donate Rs. 1 billion for the cause. In addition, they have also provided 40,000 family kits for the displaced.

The French Government also donated a mobile hospital which has already begun functioning, following in the footsteps of such a unit from India.Several other countries, INGO and NGOs too have come forward with various aid packages to support Sri Lanka’s endeavour in helping displaced civilians.

According to a Ministry spokesman, the Government expects a positive reply from the international donors within several days, subsequent to the latest round of talks which was sponsored by the UN.