India Helps Sri Lanka Rebuild

They live in 112 camps set up across the state.

 

As part of an effort to help get these people relocated back home, India is looking to open a consulate in northern Sri Lanka.

 

[Nirupama Rao, Indian Foreign Secretary]:

"We have announced that we will open a consulate general in Jaffna and also a consulate general in the south of the country in Hambantota. We expect our office in Jaffna to be opened during this year and that will also enable us to assess the needs of the people of that area better.”

 

India has also committed to building 50 thousand houses in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

 

Some 260 thousand Tamil refugees who fled fighting are now being held in military-run camps in Sri Lanka. Western countries, India and the United Nations are pressing the government to send them home.

 

India had earlier offered Sri Lanka $100 million to help war refugees return home.