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29 March 2024

Sri Lankan army accused of war crimes

A file handout picture released by the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry on May 17, 2009 shows what is said to be of troops on May 16, 2009 after capturing the the last patch of coastline in the Mullaittivu district held by the Tamil Tigers, leaving the rebels completely surrounded and cut off from any sea escape. The Sri Lankan army killed most of the tens of thousands of civilian victims of a final offensive against Tamil separatists in 2009 but both sides may be guilty of war crimes, a UN panel said on April 26, 2011. (AFP)

Published
By Reuters

Sri Lanka on Tuesday rejected a report ordered by the UN chief blaming it for thousands of civilian deaths at end of its civil war, and said it can defend itself should the world body formally take up the accusations. 

On Monday, the United Nations published the findings of a three-member panel Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed to advise him on "issues of accountability" from the end of Sri Lanka's quarter-century war with the separatist Tamil Tigers. 

The panel, which did not have an investigatory mandate, blamed the victorious Sri Lankan forces for killing tens of thousands of civilians, and said there is "credible evidence" that war crimes were committed by both sides. 

Ban nonetheless said he could not order an international probe, which the Indian Ocean nation has refused as a violation of its sovereignty, without Sri Lanka's consent or a decision from member states to push it ahead. 

"We don't consider this report an official U.N. report. It is a personal report. We totally reject it. If officially asked by the U.N. Security Council or any of the U.N. bodies, the government has enough evidence and material to provide," said Lakshman Hulugalle, director-general of the state's Media Centre for National Security. 

Sri Lanka's government since last week has repeatedly called the report fraudulent and biased, after parts of it were leaked in local newspapers. It also said the world body was seeking to pre-empt the findings of its own Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission. 

The foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the report, which marks the biggest pressure brought to bear on the government since the end of the war, when Western governments pushed in vain for a ceasefire to protect civilians. 

The government refused on the grounds that the Tigers had created civilian crises in the past to build international pressure for truces, which it then used to re-arm. 

PROBE SEEN UNLIKELY 

Stepping up the pressure, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay called on Tuesday for a "full, impartial, independent and transparent" investigation. 

"Unless there is a sea-change in the government's response, which has so far been one of total denial and blanket impunity, a full-fledged international inquiry will clearly be needed," she said in a statement issued in Geneva. 

Sri Lanka has consistently denied allegations that it targeted civilians. It has acknowledged that some were killed as troops advanced on an ever-shrinking patch of land on the northeastern coast of the island. 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has urged supporters to rally on May Day against the report and its findings, which the government says are taken from biased accusations made by rights groups and pro-Tiger members of the Tamil diaspora. 

Because Sri Lanka is not a member of the International Criminal Court, the U.N. Security Council would have to vote to ask the Hague-based court to probe war crimes. 

Russia and China, both veto-holders on the council, and India are opposed to formal Security Council involvement in Sri Lanka, diplomats told Reuters. Practically, that means there is little chance of an international investigation. 

Many ordinary Sri Lankans are bemused at the push to investigate war crimes, now that the country is enjoying its first peace in almost 30 years. 

"Who did what war crimes and at what time to me are side games quite frankly," a Western diplomat serving in Colombo told Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

Sri Lanka's 40-year history of state-sponsored rights violations, borne of the separatist war and 1971 and 1988-89 Marxist insurgencies that were put down at the cost of over 100,000 lives, is what should be addressed, the diplomat said. 

"What's more important is that there is a national discussion about these issues, and the president has the perfect opportunity, with clear skies for the next five years until he has another election," the diplomat said.