Sri Lanka to shut down refugee camps

Nearly 136,000 war refugees will be free to return to their villages as government annnounces closure of camps

Last updated: July 22, 2019 | 19:38

1 MIN READ

Manik Farm: A top Sri Lankan official says the government will close down camps still holding nearly 136,000 war refugees by January 1.

Basil Rajapaksa, a senior adviser to his brother, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Saturday the camps will be completely opened from December 1, allowing the camp residents to go back to their original villages.

The camps will be completely closed by January 1.

Some 300,000 displaced were forced into camps after fleeing the final months of the government's decades-long war with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in May.

More than half of them were released in recent months amid pressure from rights group and foreign governments.

The ethnic Tamils were held against their will in overcrowded camps with poor sanitation.

Internally displaced Sri Lankan Tamil civilians peep from over a fence at a camp for the displaced in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka.

An senior Sri Lankan official says all ethnic-minority Tamil detainees will be freed from government camps on December 1.

Some 300,000 war-displaced were forced into camps after fleeing the final months of the government's decades-long war with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in May.

A Sri Lankan army soldier stands guard next to a fence, as internally displaced civilians look on in the background at a camp for displaced in Vavuniya.

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