Sri Lanka closes last war refugee camp

2012-09-25 20:15

The final batch of 361 families left the Menik Farm camp in the northern district of Vavuniya on 24 September. (Joe Klamar, AFP)

Colombo - Officials say a huge camp for war-displaced civilians in northern Sri Lanka has been closed, but the UN expressed concern about hundreds of people who have been unable to return home because their land is occupied by the military.

The UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Sri Lanka, Sabinay Nandy, said in a statement on Tuesday that the closure of Manik Farm is a "milestone event" toward ending displacement in Sri Lanka.

But he said 346 people from 110 families who were among the last to leave the camp were relocated elsewhere while they await confirmation of whether they will be allowed to return to their former homes.

The Manik Farm camps housed 225 000 ethnic Tamil civilians after government troops defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009, ending a quarter-century civil war.

- AP