Rhys Blakely; 11/7/09
About 1400 people are dying every week at the giant Manik Farm internment camp set up in Sri Lanka to detain Tamil refugees from the nation’s civil war, senior international aid sources say. The death toll will add to concerns the Sri Lankan government has failed to halt a humanitarian catastrophe after announcing victory over the Tamil Tiger terrorist organisation in May. It may also lend credence to allegations the government, which has termed the internment sites “welfare villages”, has actually constructed concentration camps housing 300,000 people. Mangala Samaraweera, the former foreign minister and now an opposition MP, said: “There are allegations that the government is attempting to change the ethnic balance of the area. “Influential people close to the government have argued for such a solution.”
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25762859-2703,00.html
Tags: Human Rights, Sri Lanka