The Sri Lankan government has began to resettle some 30,000 people recently displaced in Eastern Province during conflicts between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said Tuesday.

Rishath Bathiyutheen, the minister of resettlement, said that some 30,000 internally displaced people (IDP) are to be re-settled over the next 10 days in the areas recently taken by the government from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"We settled over 800 families on Monday and the program will continue until everybody is resettled," Bthiyutheen said.

Government officials said the resettlement was taking place in Wellawali, Porathivu and Kovilpuram areas in the eastern Batticaloa district.

The defense authorities said that a screening process was also taking place to identify any rebel cadres among the IDPs in order to prevent infiltration.

The people being resettled are provided with dry rations sufficient for two weeks, Bathiyutheen said.

The military has vowed to flush the rebels out of Eastern Province in a campaign which began in August last year.

The violence has jeopardized the Norwegian backed process of negotiations started in 2002.

Source:Xinhua