Geneva, Jan 17: The UN refugee agency has held talks with the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels on how to handle the return of tens of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people after nearly two decades of civil war, a spokesman said here on Friday. The meeting, earlier this week, focused on what role the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) could play in the return of an initial 100,000 internally displaced people, spokesman Kris Janowski said. But the discussions also covered the future return of about 84,000 refugees living in Indian state of Tamil Nadu, he told reporters.
The talks with rebel leaders and government representatives took place in the rebel-controlled town of Kilinichchi, about 275 km north of the capital Colombo.

As well as fleeing to neighbouring India, hundreds of thousands of other people sought refuge in Europe and north America, "becoming one of the western world's largest groups of asylum-seekers", UNHCR said.

Some 800,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were also displaced within the country.
About 1,000 people have also come back from India spontaneously, Janowski added.

Bureau Report