Some 300,000 displaced were forced into camps after fleeing the final months of the government's decades-long war with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in May. The Tamils are held against their will in overcrowded camps with poor sanitation.

Although more than half have been released, critics have slammed the government for the slow pace and have urged it to hasten resettlement. The government says it needs to make sure there are no insurgents hiding among the civilians.

John Holmes, the United Nations' humanitarian chief, praised the government's new efforts Thursday during a three-day visit to the island nation.

"We were frustrated for a long time by the lack of progress," Holmes said, "but that situation has changed significantly in the last three or four weeks."

Rights groups have repeatedly condemned the detention as an illegal form of collective punishment and an excuse for keeping Tamils locked up.

Sri Lanka's foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama, also attending Thursday's news conference, said the government would accelerate the releasing of those remaining in camps.

He said progress has been slowed by the presence of land mines in refugees' home villages, and will increase with the rate of de-mining.

Government troops routed the Tamil Tigers in May, ending their 25-year fight for an independent homeland for the country's minority Tamils. Some 80,000 to 100,000 people were killed in the violence.