US assistance to Sri Lanka tops $10 million

The US will provide $2 million in immediate emergency relief funding for conflict-displaced in Sri Lanka as part of a $24 million worldwide package announced last week in Washington.

The funding, from the State Department's Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund, will support the work of the UN High Commission on Refugee (UNHCR) and NGOs to protect and help Sri Lanka's internally displaced people.

This funding will support programmes to provide protection, emergency shelter, non-food relief items, water and sanitation, camp management, reception services for Internally Displaced People (IDPs), and special projects for returnees.

'These emergency funds from Washington are necessary and timely,' US ambassador Robert Blake said in a statement.