REFUGEE

The U.K. called on Sri Lanka to allow hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians held in camps since the end of the civil war to leave and said it will only fund emergency work at the centers after monsoon rains end.

“Freedom of movement for the displaced people is our top priority,” U.K. Development Minister Mike Foster said yesterday after visiting some of the camps.

Foster said progress on returning civilians to their villages had been disappointing and that 70 percent of people held at the largest camp, Manik Farm, could be accommodated with host families to avert a humanitarian crisis when the monsoon season begins in mid-October.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has said the resettlement of more than 280,000 displaced people depends on ensuring security in the north and clearing mines from conflict areas. He declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May after rebel leaders were captured or killed, ending the group’s 26-year fight for a separate Tamil homeland.

“We are trying to release the refugees as quickly as possible,” Rajiva Wijesinha, secretary in the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, said in a phone interview from the capital, Colombo, today. “Security is of paramount concern. The government has to be responsible to its citizens first. Who will be responsible if someone is blown up?”

‘Conditions of Internment’

Sri Lanka last month rejected an assertion by United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay that the Tamils are detained under “conditions of internment.”

Sri Lanka may resettle 100,000 people from camps by the end of the year, Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said yesterday in Istanbul, where he is attending the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The U.K. is supporting demining efforts and the transportation of civilians back to their homes, Britain’s Department for International Development said on its Web site.

The government is holding 4.8 million pounds ($7.6 million) ready to provide further support to help Sri Lanka meet its commitment to release the majority of displaced people from camps by the end of the year, Foster said.

Freedom of movement is critical to avoid a humanitarian crisis, Foster said. “Heavy rainfall could cause devastation, polluting water and sanitation supplies and spreading disease,” he said.

Once the monsoon season ends in December, the U.K. will only fund “life-saving emergency interventions” in existing camps, Foster’s department said.

Sri Lankan authorities are taking precautions for the monsoon by building better drainage and toilet facilities, Wijesinha said. “By the end of this month about 60,000 refugees will be released, including pregnant women, disabled people and children,” he added.

Lynn Pascoe, the UN’s political chief, visited the country last month to assess the needs of displaced people and said the pace of their release was “too slow.”