Sri Lanka rejects UN panel report

The Sri Lankan government has rejected a report commissioned by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, on alleged human rights violations committed during the final stages of the conflict in the country two years ago.

The report, by a panel of rights experts, has just been submitted to Mr Ban and to the government in Colombo but has not yet been made public.

The Sri Lankan government has been fundamentally opposed to this panel of experts since its appointment by Ban Ki-Moon last year.

It declined to admit them to the country to conduct research.

The three-member panel, headed by a former Indonesian attorney-general, was mandated to look into issues of accountability connected with the war here.

'Fundamentally flawed'

UN officials say this refers to allegations that war crimes may have been committed by either side – the government, or the Tamil Tiger separatists, whose top leaders are now dead.

The UN says it is “unacceptable” that large numbers of civilians were killed – numbers it estimates to be in the thousands.

The Sri Lankan government has now seen the panel’s report and has swiftly rejected it.

A foreign ministry statement described it as “fundamentally flawed in many respects”, and as being based on “patently biased” and unverified material.

Ban Ki-Moon is studying the report and his spokesman says it will be made public at some point.

The government here maintains that the military inflicted no civilian deaths during the final stages of its victory against the Tigers.

International human rights groups, however, say that thousands of civilians were killed, that both sides were responsible, and that a war crimes inquiry is needed.