Malaysia will send a mission to Jaffna to determine the assistance that can be provided to the war-torn province, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

The Prime Minister, who received a courtesy call from C.V. Wigneswaran, the Chief Minister of Sri Lanka's Northern Province, said the area, which was home to many Sri Lankan Tamils, had yet to recover from the effects of civil war.

Najib said the people were still suffering as there were 45,000 single mothers who had become their families' sole breadwinners after their husbands died in the war.

In addition, about 11,000 ex-soldiers in Jaffna remain unemployed.

"I told him that Malaysia would send a mission comprising Government officials and the private sector, especially Malaysians from the Sri Lankan diaspora."

"The mission will determine what are the possibilities in terms of the help that we can extend to them," Najib told Malaysian media here before leaving for the Maldives for an official visit.

Najib had been in Sri Lanka since Sunday on a three-day official visit.

The Prime Minister also said that Wigneswaran had informed him that among the areas where assistance was required were for micro financing and public housing. (The Star Online)