Untitled Document

Front Page

UN seeks role to rebuild North-East
The United Nations has issued a donor-alert on Sri Lanka calling for international financial assistance to re-build the war-ravaged economy, especially that of the North and East. In what is seen as a bid by the world body to get more involved in the Sri Lankan peace process, the UN has launched a full-scale humanitarian assistance programme for the country.

The move comes following years of non-involvement in the northern insurgency, which was once dominated by India, and later by what was known as the "international community", a euphemism for western donor nations. A feeble and bungled approach in the late 1990s for the UN local office to identify itself with the insurgency attracted a strong rebuke from the Foreign Office in Colombo which resulted in the Resident Representative being summoned and warned.

The humanitarian assistance is likely to come in the form of help for some 800,000 internally displaced people. The agency is busy preparing a donor-alert for financial assistance, which is likely to be distributed at a meeting of the Sri Lanka Aid Group early next month. Canada, Norway and The Netherlands are learnt to have already committed substantial sums for human recovery and reconstruction in the immediate short-term, well ahead of a final settlement to the conflict.A UN Needs Assessment Mission, which wound up a two-week visit of the conflict-affected areas of the North and East this week has identified helping the displaced resettle, and start a new life as top priority.

In contrast, US Ambassador Ashely Wills this week said that his government would wait for a final resolution to the conflict before pledging aid. The UN, however, has expressed readiness to launch its "human recovery" programme almost immediately taking advantage of the lull in the fighting between Government forces and the LTTE.

The fact that some 23,000 people had returned to their homes in the last few weeks necessitated an urgent plan of action with regard to mines removal, rebuilding and food aid. The UN has expressed keenness to go ahead with its usual humanitarian programmes to offer assistance for recovery, including micro-credit facilities, agricultural support and income-generation schemes.

The UN has already dispatched its socio-economic assessment team here for a first-hand look in response to a request from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. They have already held meetings with LTTE area leaders to start business.
A separate team, headed by Kofi Asomani, the UN special co-ordinator on internally displaced people, was also here last week to study issues relating to refugees.
"It will be useful to present this issue at the first stage of the peace process," Mr. Asomani told journalists here.

Meanwhile, the UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura. will arrive in Colombo next Wednesday where he will meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and discuss how the agency can help in Sri Lanka's re-construction efforts. One of the main features of his visit will be the launch of a publication titled 'Learning the Way of Peace - A Teacher's Guide to Peace Education.'

Back to Front Page