UN Tsunami Recovery Envoy Bill Clinton to Return Affected Region
New York, Nov 17 2005 6:00PM
The United Nations Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, former United States President Bill Clinton, has announced that
later this month he will be making his second trip in his capacity as Envoy to countries devastated in the Indian Ocean
region last December.
He will visit Sri Lanka on 29 November and Aceh on 30 November, after which he will head to Brussels of 1 December to
confer with the European Commission on tsunami-related recovery needs.
Mr. Clinton has frequently urged the international community to not let their efforts slacken after the emergency phase
ended. "As impressive as the immediate response was, we need to keep up the momentum now, to tackle the difficult,
longer-term recovery phase," Mr. Clinton said earlier this year during a panel discussion on lessons learned from the
response to the Tsunami.
The earthquake and tsunami left an arc of destruction from Thailand to the Horn of Africa, with nearly a quarter of a
million people dead and millions displaced and deprived of livelihoods.
ENDS