Sri Lanka war displaced resettlement nearing end

An aerial view shows tents at Manik Farm displaced persons camp in Vavuniya in Sri Lanka, Saturday, May 23, 2009. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the displacement camp packed with tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka as he appealed Saturday to the triumphant government to "heal the wounds" after three decades of civil war. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

The Sri Lankan government on Friday claimed that the resettlement displaced Tamils is nearing completion with only 10,000 out of over 300,000 conflict-affected civilians left to be resettled.

“We have just 2100 families or around 10,000 people left to be resettled,” Minister of Resettlement Gunaratna Weerakoon on Friday said, adding that they are currently housed in the displaced camps at northern Vavuniya district’s Settikulam.

Over 300,000 civilians who were displaced due to the fighting between the LTTE and the government troops during the final battle in April-May, 2009 were camped in Vavuniya. They were resettled in a phased out programme with international assistance.

“The people who are left to be resettled have come from areas where de-mining is yet to be completed,” Mr/ Weerakoon said.

He said the government has cleared land in the Kombavil area for the resettlement of the displaced people.

“We will block 40 perch of land for each family and build houses for them,” Mr. Weerakoon said.

Officials said the people who remain to be resettled are from areas of hyper LTTE activity such as Puthukudyiruppu and Mullivaikkal in the Mullaithivu district.

Mullaithivu was the LTTE military nerve centre when they ran the parallel administration in their quest to set up a separate Tamil homeland.