UN warns 'donor fatigue' hampering rehabilitation of Lankan Tamils

London, May 19 (ANI): The UN has warned that the needs of displaced Tamils wanting to return to their homes in Sri Lanka are still huge a year after the war ended, and shortage of funds from donors has hampered the process.

The UN has warned that "donor fatigue" in Sri Lanka has meant that it has received only 24 percent of the donor funds it needs to help displaced Tamils, the BBC reports.

About 300,000 people were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in camps in the north of Sri Lanka at the height of the war, which ended on May 19, 2009. he UN said that it is facing an uphill battle as it strives to facilitate the return of thousands of war-displaced Tamil people to their homes, because many have been destroyed and their villages and fields mined.

"There has been a serious shortage of funding from donors and if the international community doesn't come forward soon, we are likely to run out of money for some key needs by June," Sri Lanka UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator Neil Buhne said.

He said that more than 60 percent of homes in the north had been seriously damaged by the fighting, and the number of people affected combined with the impact on the local economy, made the situation more grave than it was in the aftermath the December 2004 tsunami, which killed 35,000 people, the BBC reports. (ANI)