French official visits Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 1998, 18:32 GMT]
Mitchell Halliot the Deputy Ambassador of the French Embassy in Sri Lanka was in Vavuniya today on a one day visit to find out the situations of the displaced people in 12 welfare centres.

Lakshi Abeyasekera, the Project Director of Sewa Lanka Foundation, a non governmental organisation involved in rehabilitation activities in the area, accompanied him.

The Deputy Ambassador met K.Ganesh the Government Agent of Vavuniya and inquired about the general ground situation in the area in the fields of rehabilitation, resettlement, welfare of the children among the displaced families.

He distributed water cans to the school children and bed-sheets to the displaced families in the welfare centres at Nelukkulam and Veppankulam few miles west of Vavuniya town.

He also visited a relocation settlement at Ellapparmaruthankulam, a few miles south east of Vavuniya, where 477 displaced families who had returned from South India and were looked after at Sithamparapuram welfare centre in the district by the UNHCR, are settled.