AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES IT WILL PROVIDE ANOTHER $ 10 MILLION FOR SRI LANKAN IDP WELFARE
Posted on May 8th, 2009
By Walter Jayawardhana
Australia announced that it will provide a further $10 million in humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the conflict in northern Sri Lanka.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said on Friday May 8 the money would be distributed through United Nations agencies.
Smith said the money would be used to provide water, sanitation, shelter, food and health care.
Australia has provided a total of $23.5 million in humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka since December last year,it said.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for the minority Tamils.
Sri Lankan forces have now cornered the once-powerful Tamil Tigers into a tiny sliver of land on the northeastern coast along with tens of thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians The government forces announced it is less than 800 kilometers from the LTTE hide out.
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