1,400 die a week in Sri Lankan camp

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, July 10 (UPI) -- The weekly death toll at the Manik Farm prison camp in Sri Lanka holding Tamil refugees averages 1,400, international aid officials said.

The average toll adds to international concerns that the Sri Lankan government hasn't ended humanitarian issues since announcing victory over Tamil Tiger militants in May, The Times of London reported Friday.

"There are allegations that the government is attempting to change the ethnic balance of the area," said Mangala Samaraweera, an opposition member of parliament and the country's former foreign minister. "Influential people close to the government have argued for such a solution."

The Manik Farm was meant to house the largest number of the 300,000 mainly Tamil civilians forced to flee the northeast area as army forces mounted an offensive against the Tigers, fighting to establish an ethnic Tamil homeland for 26 years.

Aid workers and the British government warned that conditions at the site are inadequate, the Times said. Senior relief workers said the majority of the deaths resulted from water-borne diseases, particularly diarrhea.

News of the death rate came as the International Red Cross said Sri Lankan authorities asked the organization to scale back its operations, the British newspaper said.

Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka's minister of disaster management and human rights, said a different set of challenges exist now.

"Manning entry and exit points and handling dead bodies, transport of patients, in the post-conflict era are no longer needed," Samarasinghe said.