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UN to raise US$ 120 million for SL humanitarian mission
Wednesday, 15 August 2007 - 5:13 AM SL Time
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A UN spearheaded effort is underway to raise the urgently needed funds for the restoration of normalcy in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
The agency intends to collect US$ 120 million this year in support of the plan styled as the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP). In the immediate aftermath of the three day visit to Sri Lanka by UN Relief Coordinator John Holmes last week, the UN reiterated its commitment to the CHAP.
A spokesperson for UN Office in Colombo said that CHAP had received US$ 53 million by August 10. `This is approximately about half (48 per cent) of the funding requirement. Most of the planned projects are operational,` she said. According to her, restrictions on access to some areas had caused delays.
The UN is confident that CHAP would receive the donors` backing. Sri Lankan authorities had asserted that CHAP, built on projects first presented last August would have to be altered in view of the overall change in the ground situation in the East. `A re-appraisal of the project at least its eastern component is necessary,` a senior government official said.
The military said that CHAP was launched in the height of the major ground battles triggered by the multi-pronged LTTE assault on Trincomalee and SLA`s Jaffna frontline extending from Kilali to Nagarkovil on the Vadamaradchchy (east) coast early last August.
According to the UN some 103,000 internally displaced persons had returned to their villages in the Eastern Province now under government control. The world body had estimated the number of the displaced between April and mid-December last year at 212,759. This was before the fall of Vakarai, Kadiraweli, capture of Maha Oya-Chenkaladi road (A 11) and the fall of Thoppigala to government control.
Holmes had agreed with President Mahinda Rajapaksa that rehabilitation of livelihoods and agriculture coupled with re-establishment of civil administration and re-deployment of police were of critical importance.
Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka has assured maximum possible support for the resettlement of the internally displaced in the East. In a recent interview with The Island, Fonseka reiterated his commitment to the return of normalcy in areas regained consequent to the most successful security forces campaign in the East.
With major ground operations coming to an end in the East, the military has facilitated the free civilian movement in the East. The elite Special Task Force said that everything possible was being done to facilitate civilian and NGO/INGO movements in the region.
The military said that the UN`s task here, at least in the Eastern Province should be relatively easy as there was no threat of major confrontations. `The enemy may trigger a roadside claymore mine at a convoy or mount isolated attacks. But they no longer have the ability to take the SLA on a major battle,` a senior military official based in the East said.
By January this year, CHAP had included 72 projects (with durations varying from 6 to 12 months)
Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe asserted that CHAP would be of immense strength to Sri Lanka`s efforts to restore normalcy in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. `The focus is on the East,` he said, pointing out that the estimated CHAP budget had been almost doubled at the recent re-launch of the project in Geneva. Fielding questions, the minister said that the project would bring immense relief to the long suffering people of war-torn areas.
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