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POPE-SRILANKA Nov-11-2009 (280 words) xxxi
Pope calls on Sri Lanka to let civilians return home
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the Sri Lankan government to speed up the process of allowing civilians displaced by the nation's civil war to return to their homes.
He also urged the international community to offer needed economic and humanitarian aid to the people of Sri Lanka. The pope made the appeals at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican Nov. 11.
In the six months since the end of decades of civil war "that stained Sri Lanka with blood," the government has been making an effort to allow for those displaced by the conflict to return to their homes, the pope noted "with satisfaction."
However, he urged government authorities to "greatly accelerate those efforts" and asked "all citizens to do their best to quickly bring about peace while fully respecting human rights and to find a just political solution to the challenges that the country still faces."
"I also hope that the international community does its best in meeting the humanitarian and economic needs of Sri Lanka," he said.
After decades of civil conflict, in mid-May the Sri Lankan government declared victory when its troops overran the last enclave of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The rebels had been fighting for autonomy for the predominantly Tamil areas of the Indian Ocean island.
Despite the end of hostilities, which claimed more than 80,000 lives, about 300,000 Tamil civilians are still languishing in refugee and detention camps.
Their release has been hindered because the government has said the screening of people in the camps -- in an attempt to look for rebels -- was not yet complete.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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