Sri Lanka gets World Bank cash to help Tamil Tiger ‘ethnic cleansing’ victims

May 25, 2007 (LBO) – The World Bank Friday agreed to give Sri Lanka a soft loan of 32 million dollars to help tens of thousands Muslim victims of Tamil Tiger 'ethnic cleansing'. The money will be used to provide housing, drinking water and sanitation to 20,600 displaced families, most of whom were driven out of the northern Jaffna peninsular and now living in the north-western Puttalam district.

It will also help to build 100 km of roads in the district to link them with the main highways, Finance Ministry Secretary P.B. Jayasundera told a news conference after signing the loan agreement with World Bank Country Director Naoko Ishii.

The interest-free loan is subject to a service charge of 0.75 percent a year and is repayable in 20 years, inclusive of a 10-year grace period.

Most of the refugees became displaced in an ethnic cleansing drive of the Tamil Tigers aimed at driving out Sinhalese and Muslim residents of the Jaffna peninsular.

These Muslim residents of Jaffna were given just two hours to leave the city on October 30, 1990 by the Tigers.

Refugees later said they were only allowed to take 150 rupees in cash and what they were wearing.

Ish