|
TNA laments to Annan: “More aid going to the South than to the devastated North East
Alladin Hussein in Colombo,
January 10, 2004, 11.58 p.m..
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) during meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday alleged that the international aid that is flowing into the country is not equitably distributed among the affected district. TNA MPs R. Sampanthan and Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam noted that most of the aid is diverted to the south. Despite it is the North East which is the most affected. “There appears to be no serious attempt on the part of the authorities to ensure equitable distribution,” they said. Adding that it was unfortunate that the UN Secretary General was not provided with the opportunity to visit many devastated areas in the North East including those under LTTE control. “Such a visit would have convinced the UN Head of the extent of devastation and the necessity to draw international attention to these areas,” the pro LTTE political party noted,
Touching on the two decade long war, the TNA MPs told Annan that the Tamil habitats destroyed during the two decades of war, have not been rehabilitated for resettlement even after three years of cease-fire agreement. Many parts still continue to be occupied by the military denying access to owners of homesteads for resettlement. This is in violation of the cease-fire agreement. It is only the lack of an effective mechanism that would address the needs of the people that retards the pace of rehabilitation and resettlement. The Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals submitted to the government were formulated with this in mind, they stressed.
Published: Mon Jan 10 13:07:32 EST 2005
|
Some Schools Reopen in Sri Lanka After Deadly Tsunami
