Sri-Lankan workers in south Iraq’s Missan Province end hunger strike

MISSAN / IraqiNews.com: A group of Sri-Lankan workers, who had announced a hunger strike 3 days ago, have ended their strike. The workers were promised by the local administration in southern Iraq’s Missan Province that their salaries would be settled by a Lebanese company, Missan’s media coordinator said on Tuesday.   “30 Sri-Lankan workers have ended their hunger strike, which lasted for three days, on Tuesday, after having been promised by the local administration in Missan Province that their problem with a Lebanese company, which had delayed the payment of their salaries, reaching one billion Iraqi dinars, would be settled and their travel back home would be facilitated,” the media coordinator told IraqiNews.com news agency.   “Missan’s Governor, Ali Dawai, had promised the striking Sri-Lankan workers to help their voice to reach the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Human Rights in Iraq to settle their problem,” Mohammed Bassem said.   The media spokesman for Missan’s Health department, Jamal al-Allawi, told IraqiNews.com, that the Director of Missan Health Department, Dr. Zamil Shayaa al-Ureiby, had paid a visit to the said workers, accompanied by a health team to offer health services for them. The team provided them with 60 mobile cards to help them communicate with their relatives in Sri-Lanka, along with supplying them with clothes and food.   Noteworthy is that 30 Sri-Lankan workers have announced a hunger strike, in protest for non-payment of their wages lasting 2 years by the Lebanese Talaat Husamuddin Company, specialized in rural housing. The company’s contract was cancelled 2 months ago, due to its failure to implement a rural housing project in al-Kheir village, 65 km to the southwest of Amara.   Amara, the center of Missan Province, is 390 km to the south of Baghdad.   SKH (TR)/SR 692