130,000 Tamils to be Released From Internment Camp
The IDP Camps like the one at Menik Farm have faced several problems including poor preparation, flooding, accusations of internment, and lack of proper medical attention:
More than 300,000 people displaced by the fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels were placed in a sprawling, heavily guarded camp called Menik Farm near the northern town of Vavuniya. Many have already been released.
The remaining 130,000 will be free to leave on December 1, said Basil Rajapaksa, the head of the Tamil resettlement program and the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.He said the government will resettle the refugees by the end of January. Many are from the Wanni region, which was heavily mined during the war and is still being cleared.
Humanitarian groups, including the United Nations, have complained that the ethnic minority Tamils, who form about 13 percent of Sri Lanka’s 20.5 million people, are being held by force in at the Menik Farm camp.
They have reported conditions are overcrowded and inhumane and suggested that the government‘s treatment of the Tamil people amounts to retribution. Some residents are known to live in tents no larger than 8 square feet, sheltered from the elements only by plastic sheeting.
The government’s position was that tight controls were needed and that camp residents were being screened to ensure that rebels were not hiding among them.
Sri Lanka agrees to release 130,000 Tamils displaced by war [CNN]
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