AS INDIA PROMISES TO SEND 500 SOLDIERS FOR DEMINING IN SRILANKA PRESIDENT TELLS BAN KI MOON IDP RESETTLEMENT WILL BE DONE SOON
Jul 17, 2009
Source: Onlanka News - By Walter Jayawardhana
As India promised to send 500 soldiers trained in demining, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon that Sri Lanka will be resettling the Internally Displaced Persons, due to the war with Tamil Tigers, as soon as possible
President Rajapaksa met the UN SG at the Non Aligned Summit in Egypt and in one of several bilateral discussions with leaders during the NAM summit detailed on the progress about the caring for the IDP inmates of the state-run welfare centers.
The Sri Lankan IDP’s could not be resettled before the thousands of landmines the Tamil Tigers had buried not only to prevent the Sri Lankan troops marching forward towards the LTTE capital but also to stop the civilians they were rounding up escaping out to government controlled areas from the Tiger held areas as the Tamils were being used as a human cover.
India has promised to send 500 soldiers for demining, announced Sri Lanka’s first ever Chief of Defence Staff, General Sarath Fonseka. India is getting ready to send a contingent of five hundred soldiers specially trained in demining, General Sarath Fonseka had announced. Although no date had been announced for the arrival of the soldiers it is expected to happen soon as the government is giving priority for the IDP resettlement program. The government is installing new electricity distribution centers in Mulaitivu and Kilinochchi Districts, the former strongholds of the Tamil Tigers and constructing new roads.
Informed sources said that President Rajapaksa thanked the Secretary General for providing all the aid to care for the IDP’s.
The Secretary General thanked the Sri Lanka government for the cooperation they rendered in providing aid to the internally displaced and expressed delight for the trust the government has placed on an all party conference for a reasonable solution for the Tamil problem. (EOM)
