Colombo: The vast majority of Sri Lankan Tamils who have sought refuge in neighbouring India want to return home, but an organised repatriation depends on bilateral talks, a top UN official said today (Apr 29, 2004).

The Inspector General of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Dennis McNamara, said that most of the 60,000 Tamils still in camps in South India wanted to return.

About 6,000 of them have already made the hazardous sea journey across the 18 kilometre Palk Straits and returned home, he said adding, however a bigger return would have to wait official talks between the two Governments.

The UNHCR, he said, had no access to the refugee camps in South India, but they were working with State agencies and believed most of the refugees wanted to return.

However, he said another 20,000 to 30,000 Sri Lankan Tamils who were living outside refugee camps may not want to return.

He urged Sri Lankan authorities to pay more attention to resettling nearly 400,000 internally displaced or risk losing international financial support.

McNamara spent two weeks assessing their work in Sri Lanka which is host to one of the world's largest and most protracted displacement situations.

He warned that international donors could not be expected to fund refugees indefinitely and the Government as well as Tamil Tiger rebels must do more to help refugees go back to their homes or live where they want.