MANILA – Washington on Friday granted US$75,000 to the Save the Children Federation (SCF) to provide immediate relief assistance to Filipinos displaced by fighting in the southern island of Jolo.
Security forces were battling Moro National Liberation Front rebels and Abu Sayyaf militants tied to al-Qaeda terror network on the island. At least 2 dozen people had been killed and over 100 people wounded in fierce clashes since April 13 on the towns of Parang, Talipao and Indanan.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila said relief items to be provided include temporary shelter materials, water containers, cooking utensils and hygiene kits. The commodities, it said, will be distributed through the Mindanao Emergency Response Network (MERN) composed of local non-government organizations and community-based groups organized by SCF.
The United Nations said as many as 42,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in seven of 18 towns on the island in the Sulu Archipelago, about 950 km south of Manila.
“We are dismayed, but not discouraged, by the recent outbreak of fighting started by rogue elements opposed to progress. The people of Sulu Province know that we stand by them now, as we have in the past, in our mutual efforts to bring peace and prosperity to their beautiful islands,” a U.S. Embassy statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner said.
The UN World Food Programme said it would send 85 tons of rice to help feed the refugees, now housed in temporary shelters across the island. (Mindanao Examiner)
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