VAVUNIYA: Sri Lanka said today it would grant free movement to the remaining war-displaced civilians held in internment camps, meeting a key demand of the international community.

The government also reiterated it would complete the resettlement of civilians by the end of January.

“We will allow complete freedom of movement,” senior presidential adviser Basil Rajapakse told inmates of the Manik Farm complex, the main facility housing displaced civilians.

The United Nations welcomed the announcement that camp inmates will be able to come and go freely from December 1, saying it was in line with a pledge Sri Lanka gave Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The announcement came amid intense international pressure on Colombo to release tens of thousands of civilians held in the camps since security forces crushed Tamil Tiger rebels in May.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes visited the area earlier this week and pressed authorities to grant free movement to the camp inmates.

The government’s announcement was a “pleasing” development, the

United Nations representative in Colombo, Gordon Weiss, told AFP “This is in keeping with the assurances given to the Secretary-General,” he said.

“It is a pleasing sign of progress and we look forward to its full implementation.” Over 136,000 men, women and children remain inside camps across the island’s north, down from 280,000 at the end of the fighting in May with the defeat of the guerrillas.

Camp inmates will be allowed to come and go freely from the start of December, said Rajapakse.

The country’s former top military general, Sarath Fonseka, who defeated the Tamil Tigers in May, had criticised the government for dragging out the civilian resettlement process.

Fonseka, who quit as chief of defence staff last week and is widely expected to challenge President Mahinda Rajapakse in elections expected by next April, had vowed to work for the speedy release of civilians.

Basil Rajapakse, the younger brother of the president, repeated a pledge the entire resettlement will be completed on schedule by January 31.

He made the announcement at the Manik Farm complex, 257 kilometres north of the capital,

where he handed over relief supplies.