Press Releases
U.S. Government’s Humanitarian Assistance Funding in Sri Lanka for 2007 totaled more than USD 26 million.
Money has been used to help those with the least and most in need
Colombo, January 18, 2008: US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert O. Blake has announced that over the past year, the US Government has provided the people of Sri Lanka with over USD 26 million to support ongoing humanitarian efforts. The funding has been provided for a variety of purposes to meet the requirements of internally displaced persons (IDPs) including water, sanitation and hygiene; humanitarian coordination; and direct food and logistics assistance.
Since early 2006, renewed conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has displaced more than 300,000 people. While most have been resettled by the government, these returnees also require support for economic recovery, as do more than 200,000 IDPs who remain displaced from previous years of conflict or from the December 2004 tsunami.
In response, the US Government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has stepped up and provided help, contributing over U.S. 21 million dollars for humanitarian purposes. This assistance has supplied over 6,710 metric tons of food aid as well as supporting programs to ease the plight of the IDPs by providing clean drinking water and basic sanitation needs.
In addition, the US Government has contributed nearly U.S. 5 million dollars to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sri Lanka to fund emergency programs. This funding has enabled the ICRC and UNHCR to facilitate the movements of conflict-affected individuals, to restore family links, and to provide medical aid, shelter, and household items.
USAID Mission Director Rebecca Cohn remarked that she was pleased that USAID could deliver such a substantial package of assistance to help those Sri Lankans in need on behalf of the people of the United States. “However,” she noted, “in the future I hope, for the sake of all Sri Lankans, that there will be no need for humanitarian assistance to help IDPs because in a brighter future, there will be no displacement.”