SRI LANKA: Government to release IDPs to relatives

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps in Sri Lanka’s north will be released to their relatives, and the government expects the majority to be resettled by early next year, says a minister.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, Rishad Bathiudeen, told IRIN on 10 September that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had made the decision to allow the IDPs to live with their relatives, with effect from this week.

Bathiudeen said the government could not say how many people would be released, but that it would consider all applications from relatives outside the camps.

“If the application comes, we will attend to it,” said Bathiudeen. Read more ..

Official Government Announcement