Sri Lanka to release 136,000 of war-displaced Tamils in detainment camps

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Sri Lanka to release 136,000 war-displaced Tamils

MANIK FARM, Sri Lanka — An senior Sri Lankan official says all ethnic-minority Tamil detainees will be freed from government camps Dec. 1.

Some 300,000 war-displaced were forced into camps after fleeing the final months of the government’s decades-long war with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in May.

The Tamils are held against their will in overcrowded camps with poor sanitation. More than half were released in recent months amid pressure from rights group and foreign governments.

Authorities say nearly 136,000 people remain detained.

Basil Rajapaksa, a senior adviser to his brother, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said Saturday the camp’s residents will be free to return to their original villages after Dec. 1.