Resettling IDPs:

US strongly supports Lankan Government’s desire - VOA

Walter Jayawardhana

The Voice of America broadcasting the reflection of opinion of the US government said the United States strongly supports the Sri Lankan Government’s desire to resettle the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) safely and quickly.

The editorial quoted James R. Moore, US Charge d’affaires as saying, “We strongly support the desire of the Government of Sri Lanka to return Internally Displaced Persons to their homes safely and quickly so they can begin to rebuild their communities.

Today, some 280,000 civilians, most of them Tamils, live in government relief camps, waiting to go home. The Government of Sri Lanka has pledged to release most of these displaced people from the camps by the end of the year.

The US Government has provided approximately $57 million for humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka in 2009. A This includes $42 million in emergency food aid and over $11 million in emergency non-food relief to agencies such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Most of this assistance has been directed to help Sri Lankans who fled the conflict in the North, and was funded by the US Agency for International Development.

“We strongly support the desire of the Government of Sri Lanka to return Internally Displaced Persons to their homes safely and quickly so they can begin to rebuild their communities, said U.S Charg d’affaires to Sri Lanka, James R. Moore.