Nearly half of Sri Lanka's former LTTE detainees released

Nearly half of the former Tamil Tiger combatants have successfully completed their comprehensive rehabilitation and left the detention centers, the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Susantha Ranasinghe has said.

Following rehabilitation 5,586 LTTE cadres out of the 11,696 detained after the war have left the rehabilitation centers. They have been given vocation training during the rehabilitation program, the Commissioner General said.

According to Brigadier Ranasinghe a new batch of detainees will be released to their families on January 15 and a majority of them will be released this year.

There were 24 rehabilitation centers at the beginning of the program and only 9 are remaining now.

The Commissioner has said that Sri Lanka had received the support of the international community and business leaders to accelerate the rehabilitation process.

The authorities say foreign diplomats who observed the rehabilitation programs have also commended the initiatives taken by the Sri Lanka government rehabilitate the ex-combatants into productive citizens.

Out of some 361 child soldiers, who took the GCE (O/L) examination last year, 211 qualified to do GCE (A/L), the Commissioner says.

Meanwhile, a recent BBC report said some of the released ex-Tiger cadres have been rearrested for committing minor crimes such as stealing.