250,000 Tamils were detained after fleeing the frontline in the last stages of the 26-year-civil war. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images)Sri Lanka Agrees To Release 130,000 Tamils Displaced By War -- CNN
Colombo, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- The Sri Lankan government said Saturday it will lift restrictions on thousands of war-displaced ethnic Tamils still residing in squalid internment camps.
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.
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More News On Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka to relax Tamil camp restrictions -- ABC News
Sri Lanka 'to free Tamil refugees' -- Al Jazeera
Sri Lanka to free all war-displaced civilians -- AFP
Sri Lanka Tamil refugee camps 'to be opened next month' -- BBC
'Sri Lanka has released half of war-displaced' -- AFP
My Comment: Better late than never. Personally, I am surprised that the Sri Lankan Government is doing this. It tells me that international pressure has played a role in ending these internment camps .... but closing these camps is only the first step in building a peace process that must proceed between the two different Sri Lankan communities.