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US proposes aid cut citing SL military interference

The US Secretary of State John Kerry proposed cutting aid to Sri Lanka by 20 per cent, citing difficulties experienced in channelling money towards IDPs due to military interference.

A senior state department official has been quoted as saying:

"This reflects both the fact that we had difficult time in programming a lot of our money in Sri Lanka. We tried to do a lot in the North to help the IDPs and get back to their normal life and support reconstruction efforts there. But in several cases we had programmes that we were trying to support, to which the government - the military got quite involved in them and so we were not able to pursue those programs."

"So we made a decision that Sri Lanka as a middle income country, and in a country where we are having difficulty in programming, that is a place where we should probably cut that have a lot of own resources."

According to the official, US aid to Maldives would instead be increased.

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