Sri Lanka's government is likely to approve a controversial pact with Tamil Tiger rebels on sharing tsunami aid, a senior minister said today.
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said an accord was likely despite strong opposition to it from within President Chandrika Kumaratunga's administration, but he added a deal may not come before a mid-month meeting with donors.
The deal would share $2 billion in pledged aid with the rebels, who control parts of the north and east of the island, including several regions devastated by the December 26th tsunami.
Aid agencies and diplomats say they would like to see the accord approved before a mid-May meeting between donors and the government.
The minister was in Geneva for a meeting with 67 non-governmental organisations involved in relief work in Sri Lanka, where 40,000 people died in the tsunami.
In all, nearly 230,000 people died around the Indian Ocean basin, most of them in the Indonesian province of Aceh and Sri Lanka, in what was one of the world's worst disasters.