Sri Lanka has cancelled a $200 million order for ammunition from Pakistan and China following the end of the Wanni War, top military commander disclosed in Colombo..
General Sarath Fonseka, who had led the Sri Lanka Army to victory and has just been made Chief of Defence Staff , said ‘We stopped the orders of $200 million worth of ammunition from China and Pakistan with the war’s end.’.
The order would have been enough ammunition to fire guns and heavy weapons at the rate seen during the climax of the war against the LTTE, which ended on May 18, Fonseka said. About 800 members of a breakaway Tiger group have also joined the armed forces, he added.
Sri Lanka is currently seeking a $1.9 billion IMF loan to overcome its balance-of-payments problem but overall defence spending estimated at around $1.74 billion accounts for 17 per cent of government’s expenditure this year.
