Colombo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Sri Lanka's government signed a long-awaited pact to share .0 billion worth of tsunami aid with the Tamil Tigers on Friday, a senior government official said and the rebels are set to sign later in the day. "The government signed the memorandum of understanding," said Maithripala Sirisena, minister in charge of the Mahaweli River Basin and leader of the house in parliament, said in his office minutes after protests forced him to abandon a parliamentary debate. Sirisena said M.S. Jayasinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Rahabilitation, had signed the pact on behalf of the government.
The long-awaited aid mechanism - under which committees comprising rebels, government officials and Muslims can recommend, prioritise and monitor projects - has been held up for months because of political bickering that has split the ruling coalition. Parliament was forced to suspend a planned symbolic debate over the pact because of protests by hardline Marxists and Buddhist monk politicians rabidly opposed to the Tigers. The Marxist People's Liberation Party (JVP) -- which quit the ruling coalition last week over the aid-sharing plan -- and monks in saffron robes, protested noisily in parliament, derailing the session.
The rebels say the pact could help jumpstart stalled talks aimed at converting a three-year ceasefire into permanent peace if properly implemented, a move that would likely boost investor confidence choked by two decades of war.