Refugees leave camps in Sri Lanka, but remain stranded

Dec 2, 2009, 12:28 GMT

   Colombo - Thousands of people have started leaving refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka, six months after the civil war with the Tamil rebels ended, but remain stranded without any means of getting home, aid workers in the area said Wednesday.

   Since the government on Tuesday declared the camps located in the Vavuniya district, 240 kilometres north of the capital, to be 'open camps' over refugees 12,000 have left.

   But many of them have no way of reaching their homes in the former war-torn areas, said aid workers based in the area who did not want to be named.

    One of the concerns 'is the lack of assistance for those who have been released so far,' Amnesty International said in a statement

   'A church group has reported that people have been bussed from Manik Farm [one of the camps where the displaced were accommodated] and simply 'dumped, left on the road' at Adampan in Mannar [a town on the north-western coast],' Amnesty International said.

   The human rights group called on the Sri Lankan government to permanently release civilians whom they said have been 'illegally detained' in camps following the end of the civil war in May.

   Over 300,000 civilians were displaced during the final phase of the civil war and were being held in camps heavily guarded by the army with no visitors allowed.

   The government claimed earlier that security screening was in progress as some of the rebels may have been in the camps.

   However, the government made a sudden announcement that the camps were being declared 'open camps' and that civilians could leave.

   The opposition United National Party has claimed that the move was linked to the sudden decision to hold presidential elections on January 26. It said the government wanted to appease Tamil minority voters.

   Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa is running for a second term and his chief opponent is due to be the former army commander, General Sarath Fonseka, who spearheaded the army in the war to defeat the Tamil rebels.