Aid miracles possible from peace - UN
Development in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka will be long and difficult unless the government and Tamil Tigers turn the prevailing ceasefire into permanent peace, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday.
"If there is peace in this country, we can perform miracles in the next couple of years, because there are enough resources available," Jan Egeland, the United Nations'' Emergency Relief Coordinator, told a news conference after visiting the island''s tsunami battered east coast.
"If there is no peace but war I foresee a long and difficult humanitarian phase where we cannot go into development very effectively," he added.
With Sri Lanka heading into a Nov. 17 presidential election that will set the course of future peace efforts with the Tigers and could well be followed by a general election, Egeland called on the government to ensure administrative continuity even if the political powers change.
"We also need a peace process that is making progress," Egeland said. "I hope that both sides will do even more to make peace break out in Sri Lanka."
He appealed to Sri Lanka to follow the example of a peace deal struck in Indonesia''s tsunami-ravaged Aceh.
"It''s very important that the parties to the conflict here see what happened in Aceh. Everybody''s benefiting in Aceh," he added. "This conflict is long overdue to be resolved."(Reuters)
ADB funds post-tsunami rebuilding
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$2 million grant financed by Japan, to help restore income-generating opportunities to poor people in Sri Lanka affected by the December 26 tsunami disaster.
More than a third of the estimated 500,000 people in Sri Lanka affected by the tsunami lost their incomes, the ADB said, adding that as many of the poor fishermen who lost their boats and fishing equipment are still awaiting their repair or replacement, they are still unable to go back to their pre-tsunami standard of living and are still dependent on government welfare programs.
The project will provide temporary income opportunities to about 4,500 of these tsunami-affected people by employing them to improve drainage systems for 500 kilometers of local government roads damaged by the tsunami.
The local roads will be selected from the Southern and North East provinces, and the southern part of the Western Province, with individual road subprojects to be carried out over four months each at different times over a span of 12 months.
The selected workers will come from tsunami-affected areas in Western, Southern, and North East provinces, and will be trained by selected nongovernment organizations on road rehabilitation work.
ADB has earlier approved $150 million grant and a $7 million loan for the Tsunami-affected Areas Rebuilding Project (TAARP) in Sri Lanka, which will help to improve the living conditions of people in tsunami-affected areas by restoring basic social infrastructure, community and public services, and livelihoods in these areas.
Norway aids ILO’s post-tsunami work
Norway has provided the International Labour Organization (ILO) with Rs. 180 million to speed up the tsunami rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka, saying the aim is to “contribute to social and economic reconstruction and poverty reduction in tsunami affected communities.”
With the Norwegian financial assistance, ILO will strengthen the coordination and monitoring mechanism set up by Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN), a press release by the Norwegian embassy in Colombo said.
TAFREN has, with the support of ILO, UNDP and the World Bank, prepared an “Income Recovery Technical Assistance Program (IRTAP)” which includes temporary income transfer scheme, cash for work and and support to revive and improve economic activities.
“This project would provide technical assistance to TAFREN for coordination of the livelihood component of Government of Sri Lanka ''s back to work program, and it would increase the institutional capacity of TAFREN to implement the income recovery program at national, district and divisional level,” the embassy statement said.
“We see the necessity to speed up the tsunami reconstruction work and are happy to contribute to TAFREN’s efforts for social- and economic reconstruction and poverty reduction", Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar said.
Major activities of the year long project include staff training, introduction of procedures and guidelines, setting up a management information system, employment of temporary staff, procurement of computer equipment, vehicles and motor bikes, research and studies, database development and publications.
Sri Lanka campaigns for Dhanapala
The election for a new United Nations Secretary-General is more than a year away but Sri Lanka has already started a sustained campaign for its candidate - career diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has written letters to all 191 member states emphasizing his qualifications and seeking their support but diplomats say it is too early for any country to make up its mind as they expect several other candidates to throw their hat in the ring for the $250,000 a year job.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan steps down at the end of his second term on December 31 next year and the political drama leading to election of new incumbent is not expected to start before the fall of 2006.
Dhanapala asserts that early start would give him advantage as he campaigning on the basis of his qualification and experience which, he says, make him very suitable for the job. But Dhanapala is not the only one who has officially declared the candidacy.
Thailand Deputy Prime Minister Dr Surakiart Sathirathai has not only offered himself for the job but also got endorsement from ASEAN. And others are sitting on the wings to emerge at a time they consider appropriate. A candidate being mentioned is President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland.
Court orders final report on Sivaram murder
The Sri Lankan police have been ordered by a Colombo court to submit a full report on the investigation held into the murder of popular journalist and senior TamilNet editor, Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, by October 25, TamilNet reported.
The Magistrate, Ms. Champa Janaki Rajaratne, further directed the Secretary General of the Sri Lanka''s parliament Ms Priyani Wijesekara to submit a report on the ownership of the vehicle involved in the abduction and murder.
According to police reports, the vehicle belonged to a former parliamentarian and leader of the paramilitary PLOTE group, Mr. Dharmalingam Siddarthan.
The court had earlier ordered the release of the vehicle to Mr. Siddarthan, however he had so far not collected the vehicle from the custody of the court because of the ownership issue, the court was told.
Meanwhile a cadres of the paramilitary group, PLOTE wanted in connection Sivaram’s killing, is reportedly evading arrest amidst reports he may have even fled the country, the Sunday Times quoted detectives as saying.
Dharmaretnam Sivaram, 46, was a senior editor of the Tamilnet website and a writer for an English-language paper. Known to be a fearless champion of the Tamil cause, he was abducted from a restaurant on April 28 and his body found early the next day close to the parliament complex. Mr Sivaram had been gagged and shot in the head.
Development in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka will be long and difficult unless the government and Tamil Tigers turn the prevailing ceasefire into permanent peace, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday.
"If there is peace in this country, we can perform miracles in the next couple of years, because there are enough resources available," Jan Egeland, the United Nations'' Emergency Relief Coordinator, told a news conference after visiting the island''s tsunami battered east coast.
"If there is no peace but war I foresee a long and difficult humanitarian phase where we cannot go into development very effectively," he added.
With Sri Lanka heading into a Nov. 17 presidential election that will set the course of future peace efforts with the Tigers and could well be followed by a general election, Egeland called on the government to ensure administrative continuity even if the political powers change.
"We also need a peace process that is making progress," Egeland said. "I hope that both sides will do even more to make peace break out in Sri Lanka."
He appealed to Sri Lanka to follow the example of a peace deal struck in Indonesia''s tsunami-ravaged Aceh.
"It''s very important that the parties to the conflict here see what happened in Aceh. Everybody''s benefiting in Aceh," he added. "This conflict is long overdue to be resolved."(Reuters)
ADB funds post-tsunami rebuilding
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$2 million grant financed by Japan, to help restore income-generating opportunities to poor people in Sri Lanka affected by the December 26 tsunami disaster.
More than a third of the estimated 500,000 people in Sri Lanka affected by the tsunami lost their incomes, the ADB said, adding that as many of the poor fishermen who lost their boats and fishing equipment are still awaiting their repair or replacement, they are still unable to go back to their pre-tsunami standard of living and are still dependent on government welfare programs.
The project will provide temporary income opportunities to about 4,500 of these tsunami-affected people by employing them to improve drainage systems for 500 kilometers of local government roads damaged by the tsunami.
The local roads will be selected from the Southern and North East provinces, and the southern part of the Western Province, with individual road subprojects to be carried out over four months each at different times over a span of 12 months.
The selected workers will come from tsunami-affected areas in Western, Southern, and North East provinces, and will be trained by selected nongovernment organizations on road rehabilitation work.
ADB has earlier approved $150 million grant and a $7 million loan for the Tsunami-affected Areas Rebuilding Project (TAARP) in Sri Lanka, which will help to improve the living conditions of people in tsunami-affected areas by restoring basic social infrastructure, community and public services, and livelihoods in these areas.
Norway aids ILO’s post-tsunami work
Norway has provided the International Labour Organization (ILO) with Rs. 180 million to speed up the tsunami rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka, saying the aim is to “contribute to social and economic reconstruction and poverty reduction in tsunami affected communities.”
With the Norwegian financial assistance, ILO will strengthen the coordination and monitoring mechanism set up by Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN), a press release by the Norwegian embassy in Colombo said.
TAFREN has, with the support of ILO, UNDP and the World Bank, prepared an “Income Recovery Technical Assistance Program (IRTAP)” which includes temporary income transfer scheme, cash for work and and support to revive and improve economic activities.
“This project would provide technical assistance to TAFREN for coordination of the livelihood component of Government of Sri Lanka ''s back to work program, and it would increase the institutional capacity of TAFREN to implement the income recovery program at national, district and divisional level,” the embassy statement said.
“We see the necessity to speed up the tsunami reconstruction work and are happy to contribute to TAFREN’s efforts for social- and economic reconstruction and poverty reduction", Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar said.
Major activities of the year long project include staff training, introduction of procedures and guidelines, setting up a management information system, employment of temporary staff, procurement of computer equipment, vehicles and motor bikes, research and studies, database development and publications.
Sri Lanka campaigns for Dhanapala
The election for a new United Nations Secretary-General is more than a year away but Sri Lanka has already started a sustained campaign for its candidate - career diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has written letters to all 191 member states emphasizing his qualifications and seeking their support but diplomats say it is too early for any country to make up its mind as they expect several other candidates to throw their hat in the ring for the $250,000 a year job.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan steps down at the end of his second term on December 31 next year and the political drama leading to election of new incumbent is not expected to start before the fall of 2006.
Dhanapala asserts that early start would give him advantage as he campaigning on the basis of his qualification and experience which, he says, make him very suitable for the job. But Dhanapala is not the only one who has officially declared the candidacy.
Thailand Deputy Prime Minister Dr Surakiart Sathirathai has not only offered himself for the job but also got endorsement from ASEAN. And others are sitting on the wings to emerge at a time they consider appropriate. A candidate being mentioned is President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland.
Court orders final report on Sivaram murder
The Sri Lankan police have been ordered by a Colombo court to submit a full report on the investigation held into the murder of popular journalist and senior TamilNet editor, Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, by October 25, TamilNet reported.
The Magistrate, Ms. Champa Janaki Rajaratne, further directed the Secretary General of the Sri Lanka''s parliament Ms Priyani Wijesekara to submit a report on the ownership of the vehicle involved in the abduction and murder.
According to police reports, the vehicle belonged to a former parliamentarian and leader of the paramilitary PLOTE group, Mr. Dharmalingam Siddarthan.
The court had earlier ordered the release of the vehicle to Mr. Siddarthan, however he had so far not collected the vehicle from the custody of the court because of the ownership issue, the court was told.
Meanwhile a cadres of the paramilitary group, PLOTE wanted in connection Sivaram’s killing, is reportedly evading arrest amidst reports he may have even fled the country, the Sunday Times quoted detectives as saying.
Dharmaretnam Sivaram, 46, was a senior editor of the Tamilnet website and a writer for an English-language paper. Known to be a fearless champion of the Tamil cause, he was abducted from a restaurant on April 28 and his body found early the next day close to the parliament complex. Mr Sivaram had been gagged and shot in the head.
