Shelter

February 21 (LBO) – The World Bank is helping tens of thousands Muslim victims of Tamil Tiger 'ethnic cleansing' who were driven out of the northern Jaffna peninsular, to build their own homes through a new project approved this week. Recent fighting in eastern Sri Lanka has created new refugees, but some have started to return to their homes after the government regained control of former Tiger-held areas.

The Bank has given a 32 million dollar credit to the Sri Lanka government to help an estimated 60,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) living in 141 refugee camps in the northwestern Puttalam district of the island, the World Bank said Wednesday.

"These people have lived and owned land in Puttalam since 1990, but without any legal land ownership documentation," World Bank said in a statement.

"At present there are over 60,000 people living in 141 refugee camps with 41 percent being children who have known no other home than these camps."

The Puttalam housing project will rebuild houses, provide safe drinking water, sanitation, improved drainage facilities, and regularize land titles for the refugees.

The refugees became displaced in an ethnic cleansing drive of the Tamil Tigers aimed at driving out Sinhal