|TOP|UK-based mission organization BMS World Mission recently sent out a relief grant totalling nearly £25,000 to partners in Sri Lanka to help thousands of families made homeless due to escalating violence in the north east of the country.

The ceasefire declared in Sri Lanka in 2002 has remained a fragile one and the most recent conflict erupted when Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE) closed an essential sluice-gate in Maavilaaru, in eastern Sri Lanka.

BMS Manager for Mission Partnerships, David McLellan, says, "We have a broad and effective network of partner organisations in Sri Lanka who, when natural or human-made disasters occur, are well-placed to help those suffering.

|AD|"Each of those partners has a unique ministry in different parts of the island, and this becomes a springboard to providing relief to those most in need."

Resulting hostilities between government forces and rebel troops have killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands from Trincomalee district and further north in the districts of Baticaloa, Mullaitivu and Jaffna.

It is in these regions that BMS is actively supporting three partner organisations which are meeting the most urgent, basic needs of these people, including medicine and food.

A relief grant of £11,150 has been channelled through Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Services (Leads), which is using the money to supply hygiene packs, clothing, vegetables and cooking utensils to several hundred people.

Leads is also providing clean water to over 200 people who have taken refuge in schools in Trincomalee and to 328 families displaced in Kinniya.