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| What now for Sri Lanka's Tamils? |
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posted by berlintamil at
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posted by berlintamil at
3:29 AM
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Sri Lanka claimed a propaganda victory last night after the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution praising its defeat of the Tamil Tigers and condemning the rebels for using civilians as human shields.
China, India, Egypt and Cuba were among the 29 developing countries that backed a Sri Lankan-proposed resolution describing the conflict as a “domestic matter that doesn’t warrant outside interference”. The resolution also supported Colombo’s insistence on allowing aid group access to 270,000 civilians detained in camps only “as may be appropriate”.
The Sri Lanka Ambassador in Geneva said that European nations had failed with their “punitive and mean-spirited agenda” against his country. “This was a lesson that a handful of countries which depict themselves as the international community do not really constitute the majority,” Dayan Jayatilleka said. “The vast mass of humanity are in support of Sri Lanka.”
Western diplomats and human rights officials were shocked by the outcome at the end of an acrimonious two-day special session to examine the humanitarian and human rights situation in Sri Lanka after the blitzkrieg of the final military offensive that wiped out the Tiger force.
“The vote is extremely disappointing and is a low point for the Human Rights Council. It abandons hundreds of thousands of people in Sri Lanka to cynical political considerations,” Amnesty International said.
Sri Lanka, unable to stop the Human Rights Council taking up its case, rushed its own motion to the floor in time to beat a more censorious resolution tabled by Switzerland.
Twelve countries, mostly European and including Britain, opposed the resolution after failing to win support for their version, which called for unfettered access to detained civilians and an internal investigation of alleged war crimes by both sides.
The UN in Sri Lanka says that at least 7,000 civilians were killed in the first four months of the year alone, with the casualty rate sharply rising as the endgame approached. Many of those deaths are believed to have been caused by Sri Lankan army shelling. The Government denies that it caused a single civilian death, blaming all of them on the rebels.
Israel will be among the nations angered by last night’s result. The 47-member council, formed in 2006 to deal quickly with urgent humanitarian situations, succeeded in forcing an internal investigation on Israel over its recent offensive in Gaza, which killed an estimated 700 Palestinian civilians.
Western diplomats said that the result called into question the entire purpose of the Human Rights Council — where the 47 members sit as equals with no right of veto for any country. The United States only recently agreed to join it in the belief that the council had been reformed. Divisions between the West and the developing world were exposed last month when dozens of European and other ambassadors stormed out of the council during an inflammatory address by President Ahmadinejad of Iran.
Tom Porteous, the London director of Human Rights Watch, said: “The Human Rights Council had a chance to prove itself by calling for a serious inquiry into violations of the laws of war and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, and they failed dismally.”
In Colombo, by contrast, there was a mood of jubilation for a government that has cast itself as a plucky minnow fighting the hypocrisy of large Western powers. Sri Lanka’s resolution passed with the support of powerful new allies such as China, which provided much of the weaponry used in its decisive defeat of the rebels.
“The support of the international community at the UNHRC is a clear endorsement of our effort to eliminate terrorism without a civilian bloodbath,” Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Sri Lankan Minister for Disaster Relief and Human Rights, said.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, had called on Tuesday for an international war crimes inquiry, saying she believed that both sides might be guilty of war crimes. The Tigers are accused of using civilians as human shields and those who fled the war have testified that rebel commanders fired on them to stop them escaping, killing many.
Of more immediate concern, though, is what the failure of the European-backed resolution will mean for the 270,000 civilians interned in camps run by the Sri Lankan Army. Aid agencies have been given only limited access to the sprawling camps and have been barred from bringing in vehicles for fear that Tiger cadres could use them to escape.
Sri Lanka has said that it will allow access to the camps in a month, after screening for former fighters is complete. On a military-led visit to the camps this week, though, officials admitted that no such screening was taking place and that captured fighters were taken to “rehabilitation camps” before they were registered there.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6375044.ece
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posted by berlintamil at
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Sally Sara reported this story on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 08:18:00
AM visits a refugee camp in northern Sri Lanka where Tamils tell of their experiences and injuries. The Government is refusing to allow civilians to leave the camps until they have removed any suspected former members of the Tamil Tigers.
TONY EASTLEY: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is calling for an independent investigation into alleged atrocities committed by both sides in Sri Lanka's civil war.
The Sri Lankan Government has dismissed calls for an inquiry and says it's busy meeting the needs of more than a quarter of a million displaced civilians.
South Asia correspondent Sally Sara reports from the largest camp at Menik Farm, near the town of Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka.
SALLY SARA: This is the only way that the Sri Lankan Government will allow journalists into the displacement camps - on an official tour.
The camps are tightly controlled.
(Sound of displacement camp)
Menik Farm camp near the town of Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka is now home to more than 200,000 people. The rows of white tents stretch off into the distance.
Standing outside one of the tents is an 18-year-old and his family. They have lost their father, sister, brother-in-law and two sons. All five were killed when they were trying to shelter from heavy shelling a fortnight ago.
(Sound of Balasupramanian Surenthiran speaking)
He says, "I am a boy. I have lost my father, so I am facing a lot of problems".
Other families have become separated and are desperately seeking their lost relatives.
A woman clutching her two small children says her husband admitted to the army that he was previously involved with the Tamil Tigers and he was taken to another camp - where, she doesn't know.
(Sound of Jegatheeswanan Kalaimagal speaking, crying)
She says she is sick and her children are sick and she doesn't know what to do
The Government says more than 9,000 former rebels have disclosed their links to the Tamil Tigers during screening of the displaced population.
Army officials say the former fighters will be placed in retraining camps before they're returned to their communities.
Until the screening is finished, army spokesman brigadier Undaya Nannayakkara says civilians are not allowed to leave the camps.
UNDAYA NANNAYAKKARA: Yes, they must stay here still. They can't go out unless they are being taken out for their various medical reasons or any other things.
SALLY SARA: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an independent investigation into alleged atrocities by both sides in the civil war.
The true civilian cost of the conflict is still unknown. It is a price which has been paid family by family.
Just as we are about to leave one part of Menik Farm camp, we meet a young woman called Bamini Padmanathan and her brother. He lost both his legs in the war and she is now struggling to care for him.
BAMINI PADMANATHAN: He's my brother, Nimal. He lost his two legs by the shelling on August 2008. He's 24 years old only. I want some help for the treatment for his legs.
(Sound of car horn)
SALLY SARA: In the background, the soldiers are sounding the horn of the bus to tell us our brief time at the camp is almost over.
The Sri Lankan Government says it hopes to repatriate up to 80 per cent of the civilians by the end of the year. The United Nations warns that target may be ambitious.
This is Sally Sara at Menik Farm camp in northern Sri Lanka for AM.
posted by berlintamil at
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posted May 26, 2009 at 8:40 am EST
• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to clash Tuesday over two competing resolutions on how to provide aid to thousands of people displaced by the Sri Lankan military campaign against the Tamil Tigers.
The first resolution, tabled by Switzerland and supported by European countries, proposes that international aid agencies be given direct access to those affected by the long-running war, including more than 300,000 people housed in government camps. It also calls for investigations into possible war crimes during the conflict against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A counterresolution, tabled by Sri Lanka and backed by powerful allies including China, Russia, and India, calls for the UN to cooperate with the Sri Lankan government in providing humanitarian assistance.
During the session, Sri Lanka is expected to clash with Western countries as it attempts to curtail investigations into allegations of war crimes, reports The Times of London. Tuesday's special session on Sri Lanka was requested by 17 nations, including France, Germany, Britain, and Canada. A Human Rights Commission special session has been convened on only 10 previous occasions.
Observers at yesterday's preliminary meeting in Geneva, which was described as acrimonious, said that the 47-member Council was divided over the European resolution, with 18 countries for and 18 against. The other nine are undecided….
The two competing agendas clashed in the preliminary meeting when an Asian bloc led by India, Pakistan and Malaysia argued for today's special session to be abandoned altogether. India, China and Egypt walked out of the meeting after this was refused.
Sri Lanka goes into today's meeting backed by powerful new allies such as China, which provided much of the military hardware for the final offensive that defeated the Tamil Tigers last week after a 25-year war….
Several undecided countries, including Chile and Mexico, are pressing for a compromise resolution incorporating elements of both drafts.
International human rights groups are dissatisfied with the European resolution because it fails to call for an international war crimes inquiry and instead suggests that Sri Lanka launch internal investigations, reports Agence France-Presse.
Although the European-led text targeted violations during the conflict and backed investigations, the watchdog group UN Watch dismissed it as "a joke".
"Despite the call by UN rights officials for an international inquiry into possible war crimes, the proposal instead asks Sri Lanka to investigate itself -- it's a joke," said UN Watch's executive director Hillel Neuer….
Advocacy group Human Rights Watch said that the Council needed to examine the creation of an impartial commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of human rights violations committed by both parties as a matter of urgency.
Analysts have said that UN's stance on Sri Lanka remains undecided due to the lack of independent assessments of ground realities. According to The Christian Science Monitor, access to the northeastern war zone remains rare even after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lankan government has granted only sporadic access to aid workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross to supply food aid and help the injured. Journalists and independent observers, meanwhile, are denied access to the region.
"There's only one thing you can surmise from this," says Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives. "The government doesn't want the world to see what happened there – or is currently happening there."...
International observers argue that it needs urgent access to the former battle zone to not just check on civilians left behind but also to provide a safeguard against human rights violations, torture, and arbitrary detention for any remaining Tamil Tiger rebels.
According to the Daily Telegraph, a London-based newspaper, the government has been accused of "ethnic cleansing" in Tamil areas in Sri Lanka's northeast region.
Aid officials, human rights campaigners and politicians claim Tamils have been driven out of areas in the north-east of the country by killings and kidnappings carried out by pro-government militias.
They say the government has simultaneously encouraged members of the Sinhalese majority in the south to relocate to the vacated villages….
[A local campaigner for the families of Tamils who have disappeared] said much of the "ethnic cleansing" was being done in the name of economic development in which Tamil villagers were being moved out to make way for new roads, power plants and irrigation schemes, while Sinhalese workers were being drafted in with incentives including free land and housing.
But the Sri Lankan government denies such reports and insists it is in favor of a national reconciliation campaign. On the eve of the Human Rights Commission session, a Sri Lankan government official said international monitoring was unacceptable, reports The Nation, a Sri Lankan daily.
The international community is welcome to provide Sri Lanka with assistance, but it should be according to the wishes of the people of this country, including the people of the North, Senior Presidential Advisor and MP Basil Rakapaksa said in a message to the international community.
"If they want to be our friends, then they should be genuine friends. We do not want 'monitors,' we need partners. Be our partners in this task to help our people," Rajapaksa said.
An opinion piece in an Indian newspaper, the Deccan Herald, argues that the Human Rights Commission's disagreement on how to tackle Sri Lanka is evidence of a global power play underway in the Indian Ocean.
In essence, Sri Lanka is the theatre where Russia and China are frontally challenging the US's incremental global strategy to establish NATO presence in the Indian Ocean region. The US has succeeded in bringing the NATO up to the Persian Gulf region. The NATO is swiftly expanding its relationship with Pakistan. But it is Sri Lanka that will be the jewel in the NATO's Indian Ocean crown. Russia and China (and Iran) are determined to frustrate the US geo-strategy. The hard reality, therefore, is that geopolitics is sidetracking Sri Lanka's Tamil problem.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government on Tuesday rejected the Tamil Tigers' offer to participate in the country's democratic process after being defeated last week, reports the BBC.
In an interview with the BBC, [Sri Lankan defense secretary] Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the LTTE rebels could not be trusted to give up "terrorism"....
He said: "I do not believe the LTTE can enter a democratic process after years of their violent activities." He added that there were "enough democratic Tamil political parties in the country" to represent the Tamil minority....
Mr Rajapaksa also said the work of government forces was not yet over as they had to recover weapons hidden by the LTTE in the northern and eastern regions.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0526/p99s01-duts.html
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posted by berlintamil at
2:49 AM
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www.news.sky.com
Gordon Brown has raised the possibility of a human rights investigation
There are numerous reports of sexual assaults in the government-run camps, and claims that groups of young men are being rounded up and taken away.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon will demand unfettered access to the camps during his visit to the country, as well as access to other areas which have been off-limits to aid workers and journalists for months.
More than 40 camps have been set up to cope with more than 200,000 people left homeless by the long-running conflict.
The people inside the camps are kept behind barbed wire and are not allowed to leave.
Sri Lanka's government says they are being "processed", as they believe Tamil Tiger rebels may be hiding among the civilians.
In written statements Sky News has obtained, the Tamils talk about overcrowding in the camps and being separated from their families.
One Tamil woman who agreed to talk to Sky News on condition of anonymity said: "We believe women are being raped and young men are being disappeared.
"We don't know what is happening to them because there is no transparency and no information."
Oxfam are one of a number of organisations, including the UN, calling for greater access to the camps.
Acting country director for Oxfam, David White told Sky News: "These camps are huge and it is very difficult to deliver the aid on foot or by bike as has been suggested."
He said there also appeared to be a campaign of pressure against the non-government organisations (NGOs), with insinuations that many aid workers sympathised with the Tamil Tiger rebels.
"This often happens in the local newspapers," he said. "There is not a very favourable portrayal of us, and we are often seen as the White Tigers."
Refugees receive medical treatment
Government officials have regularly criticised the aid agencies in news conferences and interviews.
One official even suggested aid workers themselves may be responsible for abuses in the camps.
"There are plenty of blue-eyed children in the camps," said Professor Rajiva Wijesinha. "I think you'll find plenty of NGOs have been having fun in the camps."
Many in the government believe there is a bias in the western media against Sri Lankan military policy.
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband have both raised the possibility of an investigation into possible human rights abuses by both sides.
Among the Tamil minority, there is a deep worry about whether they really can integrate into society.
"We feel no one is there to defend us now," said one woman. "We feel very alone."
The feeling is that despite the President's protestations about unity, it may take some time for that sentiment to be translated into grass roots reality.
posted by berlintamil at
2:34 AM
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Satellite images of the same area taken by the US two months apart show thousands of refugees arriving
posted by berlintamil at
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The Red Cross and the United Nations have called on the Sri Lankan government to allow them unrestricted access to thousands of refugees in camps near a former conflict zone.
The organisations made their appeal to Colombo on Wednesday, days after government forces finished off the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north of the country.
"We need to have access, I repeat, total access, without the least let or hindrance, for the UN, for NGOs and for the Red Cross," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Wednesday.
Monica Zanarelli, an official from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said restrictions had led a temporary block on aid to the camps.
"The ICRC and other humanitarian aid agencies deplore this unacceptable situation, in particular because it is having a severe effect on the thousands of newly arrived displaced people who until very recently had to endure unimaginable hardship merely to survive in the conflict zone in the northeast," she said.
Until then, the Red Cross had delivered water, food, personal hygiene kits, baby-care parcels, emergency household items and kitchen utensils to the camp, known as Menik Farm, in the country's north, which housed more than 130,000 refugees, she said.
At least 280,000 people have been displaced due to recent fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the military.
Many of them have been sent to overcrowded camps in the country's north.
Pressure continues to mount on the Sri Lankan government to open areas that have been off limits to journalists and aid workers, amid reports that thousands of civilians were killed in the crossfire between the army and the LTTE in the final weeks of the war.
ICRC 'at work'
But Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Sri Lankan minister of disaster management and human rights, told Al Jazeera that the Red Cross had been given access.
| Eye witness | |
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"[I lived] near Pudukuripu, in a place called Padapalaayam ... Every hour the Sri Lankan army fired 400 to 500 shells. We were forced to live inside the bunkers. |
"The heads of the ICRC in Sri Lanka came and met me, we had a very fruitful productive discussion and the ICRC did inform me that they are back at work ... inside the camps and doing what they were doing earlier, he said on Thursday.
"Our position is that we welcome anyone who wants to compliment the troops of the government but they have to work within a national framework.
"And as long as they work within that national framework we would facilitate them to the maximum," he said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also called for more assistance, citing the lack of services available for aid workers helping refugees who have left the former conflict zones.
"There are several issues that need urgent attention, including overcrowding and the limited services available at the camps,'' Ron Redmond, the UNHCR spokesman, said.
"Civilians coming out of the conflict zone are sick, hungry and suffering from acute malnourishment and dehydration,'' he said in Geneva.
The Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid agency said thousands of refugees who had arrived in Vavuniya district are in "desperate need of medical care".
"A staggering 50,000 people have arrived in Vavuniya district since last Friday 16th May. Many thousands more are still expected in the coming days," the aid group said in a statement.
"Despite increasing the number of staff, MSF teams are overwhelmed by the huge and sudden influx of people."
Children 'abducted'
| In video |
  Interview: Sri Lankan ambassador Fears grow for Tamil war zone doctors Tamils' struggle faces uncertain future Sri Lankans celebrate end of war |
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has said that it had received verified reports of child abductions from camps in the main resettlement area of Vavuniya, often by paramilitary Tamil groups.
Children as young as 12 are among those taken, the coalition said, suggesting that former fighters - who had allied with the military in the fight against the LTTE - are being used to identify and remove former Tiger child soldiers.
The former fighters have been allowed "unhindered" access to the camps that are guarded by government troops, it said.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers is an umbrella group of global organisations that includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
"The motive is slightly unclear," Charu Lata Hogg, a researcher with Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/20095218835185207.htmlposted by berlintamil at
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| Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 15:41 Mecca time, 12:41 GMT Aid group halts Sri Lanka operation | |||||||||
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An international aid group has suspended its aid operations in Sri Lanka due to restrictions placed on it by the government. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, a day after Sri Lanka's government declared victory over the Tamil Tigers, that "additional restrictions" meant it had no choice but to halt its activities. About 265,000 ethnic Tamils were displaced in the military's recent offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, and many of them have been sent to overcrowded camps in the country's north. "Since last weekend there have been additional restrictions imposed on aid organisations, including ICRC," Paul Castella, the head of the group's Sri Lanka operations, said. "The authorities have said that because of security they had to restrict access to certain areas. "What is the take of these civilians and what the conditions are we don't know because we are not granted access to the area." Doctors detained Separately, rights groups have called on Sri Lanka to release three Tamil doctors detained after government forces overran the LTTE's last outpost in the country's northeast. During the final stages of the conflict, journalists were prevented from entering the war zone and the international media came to rely on the reports of Thurairaja Varatharajah, Thangamuttu Sathyamurthi and V Shanmugarajah, three Tamil doctors working in the war zone.
The men were arrested on accusations that they gave false information about the number of casualties to the media; their whereabouts are unknown. "We call on the Sri Lankan government to release the doctors immediately, and to respect their rights to legal counsel and to receive medical care as well as family visits," Frank Donaghue, who heads Physicians for Human Rights, said. The Committee to Protect Journalists has also called for the doctors to be released. "This is a chilling example of the intentions of the Sri Lanka government as it pursues its all out military solution in dealing with the [Tigers]," Bob Dietz, the group's Asia programme co-ordinator, said.
Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka's minister for disaster mangment and human rights, confirmed that the doctors had been "handed over" to the police. "The Criminal Investigation Department has issued detention orders for the three doctors and investigations have commenced about possible collaboration with the LTTE," he told Al Jazeera. Fears persist President Rajapakse announced victory over the Tamil Tigers, who had fought for decades for a separate Tamil homeland, on Tuesday.
State television broadcast images of what it said was the body of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE chief, a bid to discredit claims by the Tamil Tigers that he was "alive and well".
Despite the government's declaration of victory, pockets of fighters are thought to still be active in Sri Lanka's east and officials suspect that sleeper cells are hidden in cities across the country. Security forces were on high alert on Wednesday as the government declared a public holiday to mark the Tamil Tigers' defeat.
Meanwhile, concern has grown over the the high numbers of civilians killed and how the government will reach out to the country's Tamil minority. Speaking in Geneva, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said that any serious allegations of war crimes "should be properly investigated". "I remain concerned about the welfare and safety of the civilian population," he said. The European Union has called for an independent inquiry into alleged human-rights violations carried out during the war. Political solution
The UN has said that between 80,000 to 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war. Under international pressure to reach out to the Tamils, Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka's president, has vowed that a political solution to the island's ethnic divisions would be found.
"Let us all be united." He also called upon Sri Lankans, especially Tamils who fled the country, to return and help it rebuild. "There are no minority communities in this country. There are only two communities, one that loves this country and another that does not," he said. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the opposition leader, who has been criticised by the government for his conciliatory approach towards Tamils, called for national reconciliation. "We have to have a discussion among ourselves, among the political leaders who represent the communities, and come up with a new Sri Lankan identity," he said from Brussels. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200952011230183260.html.......................................................................................................................................... |
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| http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/05/2009520421048664.html |
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| Colombo vows to 'rescue' civilians | |||
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The Sri Lankan government has vowed to launch a final offensive against the Tamil Tigers, while thousands of civilians continue to flee the conflict zone in the island's northeast. Anusha Palpita, a Sri Lankan government spokesman, said all civilians trapped in the war zone will be rescued within two days. "The president [Mahinda Rajapakse] assured that within the next 48 hours the thousands of Tamil civilians will be freed from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers," Palpita said on Friday. "All territory will be freed from Tiger control." The statement came as UN officials in New York said Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff of the secretary-general, would arrive in Sri Lanka on Saturday "to help resolve the humanitarian situation". Prior peace missions by senior diplomats have ended in failure, and on Thursday the Sri Lanka government vowed it would not cave in to pressure to halt the war. Fighters trapped Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka foreign affairs secretary, told Al Jazeera that the Tamil Tigers were "sandwiched between two forces", with the miltary pushing from the north and the south. "The fighting is mostly on the sea coast. That is not the area where the refugees are. They are concentrated in the centre of this piece of land." Kohona said the Tamil Tigers are using civilians to fight the army, a claim the group has previously denied. "The military knows there are quite a number of LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] combatants left. They are also throwing young people, children, armed with Kalashnikovs, against the military advance." Humanitarian crisis The developments came as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is the only aid organisation allowed to work in the conflict zone, said a boat attempting to evacuate wounded and carrying food aid had been unable to reach the area because of fierce fighting. "Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe," Pierre Krahenbuhl, the ICRC'sdirector of operations, said. |
| "No humanitarian organisation can help them in the current circumstances. People are left to their own devices." An army spokesman said on Friday that 4,000 civilians fled the conflict zone overnight. The government says people have been fleeing under fire from the Tamil Tigers, wading across a lagoon into government-controlled territory. It is impossible to independently confirm claims from the government and the LTTE because journalists are banned from the conflict area and access for aid organisations is strictly limited. The government says civilians are being used as human shields by the LTTE and need to be rescued, while the group says the army has been shelling the area, causing civilian casualties. Navi Pillay, the UN's human rights chief, has said both sides may be guilty of war crimes. |
| http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/20095155325755702.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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A move against the Sri Lankan president will now be seen as a move against whole Sri Lanka by the vast majority of Sri Lankans.
It is a welcome move from US, UK and EU, since it will harden the resolve of Sri Lankan people, and will show the duplicity of western countries in treating terrorists!
rajika, Stockholm, Sweden
When there is no evidence for a crime, science always there to help. Can not hide the truth for long. It will emerge to the top from any kind of barriers.
gerald, paris, France
The war against the terrorists is over, and regardless of how they were defeated is out of the question. It is a total relief of the Sri Lankan government and it's peace-loving citizens to get rid of the terrorists who terrorized the community to separate from the homeland.
Nap, Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6337805.ece--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------