22 April, 2011 - Published 13:15 GMT

UN 'to release' expert panel report

The United Nations says it intends to release the report of the expert panel appointed by the secretary general on accountability issues related to alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Ban ki-Moon’s spokesperson Farhan Haq was responding after Sri Lanka government urged the UN not to publish the report saying it could harm reconciliation efforts that are underway in Sri Lanka.

“It is our intention to release it as soon as is possible, and we still would like to publish it simultaneously with a response by the Sri Lankan Government,” Farhan Haq said.

Mr Haq said the UN is still discussing with the Sri Lankan government “to see whether Sri Lanka would avail itself in good faith” to respond to the report.

"We have made it clear to the UN that it is wrong to publish this report," Foreign Minister GL Pieris told journalists in Colombo on Thursday.

The minister has also accused the panel of “overstepping its mandate.”

But Mr Haq said the secretary general believed the panel had performed its job "conscientiously".

He also recalled that one of the key principles of the agreement reached in 2009 between the Secretary-General and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was to establish accountability.

“The Secretary-General named the Panel of Experts in 2010 in order to explore the issue of accountability regarding the Sri Lanka conflict, and the report is the result of the Panel’s work,” said a statement issued by the UN.