Archives

No Lankans affected by Iraq war - SLBFE

by Ananda Kannangara

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) yesterday confirmed that no Sri Lankan workers employed in the Middle East region has been affected by the Iraq war.

"However we acted promptly on a directive made by Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs several weeks before the war and took precautionary measures to assist 500,000 of our labour force in emergency situations," Chairman, SLBFE Susantha Fernando said yesterday.

He said that the Bureau kept a close watch on Sri Lankan workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan during the war but no complaints had been received from any of them. "We also established a special Command Centre at the Bureau Head Office at Isipathana Mawatha, Colombo 5, soon after war broke out to enable interested parties to know about their kith and kin employed in these countries," he said.

He said Minister Samarasinghe also directed Sri Lankan embassies to open counters round the clock in their respective embassies to receive complaints from workers and also to give them protection when necessary.

"In addition to this a special fund of Rs.500 million was also set up by the Bureau with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help our workers in case of a war," he said.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager