Hic Hic

Sri Lanka's warring parties are yet to agree on how to disburse millions of dollars in foreign aid for tsunami survivors more than three months after the disaster, a senior minister admitted Thursday.







Sri Lanka's warring parties are yet to agree on how to disburse millions of dollars in foreign aid for tsunami survivors more than three months after the disaster, a senior minister admitted Thursday. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said there was no deal so far on a mechanism to handle tsunami relief in the island's embattled north-east and the government awaited a response from the rebels.

The government had to work with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the troubled regions because the writ of the state did not apply there on a "day to day basis," the minister said.

"In this situation, we have to deal with an organisation (LTTE) that you would not normally like to deal with," Kadirgamar told reporters.

He said the government's own machinery could not function freely in rebel-held areas without the approval of the guerrillas.

Kadirgamar said some of the rebel leaders who were handling the proposed "joint mechanism" were out of the country.

"We would have