Sri Lanka on Wednesday told foreigners that they needed defense ministry approval before traveling to the country's north where troops and Tamil Tiger rebels clashed until 2009.

In 2011, the Un estimated in a report that up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed by troops in the final months of that 24-year-long conflict.

On Wednesday, Sri Lanka's Information Department said "foreigners and relevant organizations have to write to the defense ministry for approval."

It gave no reason for its pronouncement, but military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that authorities in Colombo had "information that some foreigners are trying to cause discord among ethnic communities."

Workshops disrupted

Media rights groups told the Reuters news agency that at least four workshops held in the past five months had been disrupted by police and pro-government protestors.

In August, President Mahinda Rajapaksa withheld entry visas from UN officials mandated by UN resolution in March to probe alleged war crimes. His administration said an external investigation was unnecessary.

The new restrictions on foreigners will also affect ethnic Tamils who obtained foreign passports after fleeing the previous fighting and living aboard as refugees.

On Monday, President Rajapaksa relaunched a rail link to Jaffna, the capital of the northern region.

The UN has estimated that up to 100,000 people were killed between 1972 and 2009 in the separatist conflict.

ipj/msh (AFP, dpa Reuters)