JEDDAH, 30 June 2003 — A Sri Lankan federal minister met over the weekend with aid agencies to further the island state’s continuing efforts to rehabilitate people displaced by the two-decade-old ethnic conflict.
“Rehabilitation work has been going on since the cease-fire was brokered between the Sri Lankan government and the rebel forces led by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),” M. H. Mohamed, the island’s western region development minister, told Arab News.
The minister said he met with senior executives of the Muslim World League (MWL), the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
“I presented the rehabilitation work being done and assistance required for continuing it in the northeast, the worst-hit region of the country. We need funds to rebuild mosques, schools and orphanages and several houses and public buildings. All of the agencies approached have given us firm commitments,” Mohamed said on the sidelines of a reception hosted by Consul General A.C.M. Ibrahim at the consulate.
“IDB is additionally giving SR125,000 toward a medical center in Colombo. This amounts to 10 million Sri Lankan rupees, which can cover the cost of its first phase. This is only a third of the entire cost of the project of the Sri Lanka Islamic Center (SLIC),” said the minister, who is also the chairman of the center.
The IDB has been giving scholarships to Sri Lankan students through the SLIC. It recently gave 226 scholarships worth 50 million rupees, he said.
At his meeting with the OIC, the minister said he discussed the prospects of a lasting peace in view of an upcoming round of talks in either Japan or Thailand.
He also extended invitations to senior members of the agencies to visit the island for a ceremony scheduled at the SLIC on July 20.
The consul general said the collection of aid in both cash and kind for the people hit by the recent flash flood in parts of the island was continuing in the Kingdom.
“So far, our community has donated SR40,000 in Riyadh, 25,000 in the Eastern Province and SR20,000 in Jeddah. We sent a container load of donations including clothes and stationery to the island recently.”
