Sri Lanka shuts war-time refugee camps

Camps which housed 300,000 displaced people by the end of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have now all closed, three years after the war ended, the military said yesterday. The United Nations welcomed the move, but said hundreds of people could not return home because their properties are occupied by the military in the former war zones. Instead they are in makeshift shelters or with friends and family. Once one of the world’s biggest camps, the final batch of 361 families left Menik Farm in the northern district of Vavuniya on Monday, military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasekera said. “As of last evening, Menik Farm is formally closed because there are no more IDPs (Internally Displaced People),” Wanigasekera told AFP. International rights groups described camps such as Menik Farm-the last to shut its doors-as internment facilities. They were strictly off-limits to journalists and private charities until recently. Authorities called them “welfare camps” to shelter civilians. The final group of 1,186 people were from two villages in the district of Mullaittivu, in the north, where security forces fought their last battle with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. In a statement, the UN said it was “concerned about 346 people who are returning from Menik Farm to Kepapilavu in Mullaittivu district, who are unable to return to their homes, which are occupied by the military. “Instead, they are being relocated to state land, where they await formal confirmation about what is happening to their land in the future, and plans for compensation if they cannot return.” The UN chief in Colombo, Subinay Nandy, urged the Sri Lanka government to allow Tamils to settle anywhere they wanted. “Allowing people to settle anywhere in the country and resolving legal ownership of land for those who have resettled away from their original homes is a key part of the reconciliation process,” Nandy said. He said the closure of Menik Farm was a “significant sign of the transition from conflict to sustainable peace”, but noted that many people were still living with friends and relatives. “Some of these people have been displaced for years and they also need a lasting solution,” he added. A major part of the Menik Farm facility was closed late last year, but a smaller section remained opened because some of the villages had not been demined to allow the safe return of civilians, spokesman Wanigasekera said. The Sri Lankan government said it spent $360 million to re-settle the waraffected civilians, with additional support provided by United Nations agencies and other donors. Sri Lankan forces crushed the Tamil Tigers after decades of fighting in a military campaign which sparked allegations that thousands of civilians had also been killed, a charge denied by the military. The Tamil Tigers fought for an independent homeland for the island’s Tamil minority concentrated in the northern and eastern regions. The 37- year conflict claimed up to 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates. From : Kuwait times.