By Catherine Philp | The Australian
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"Tens of thousands" of civilians died after the Sri Lankan Government systematically shelled an area that it had previously declared a no-fire zone, where Tamil civilians had been encouraged to gather in the last weeks of the war, the report, which was released last night, said.
It contains damning forensic evidence, in the form of satellite imagery, showing that government artillery was "constantly adjusted to increasingly target the no-fire zone".
The report calls for the establishment of a full UN war crimes investigation into the actions of the Government and the Tamil Tigers, who were also condemned for shooting civilians who tried to flee the area.
The main focus of the report, however, is on the actions of the Government, naming senior civilians and military leaders as those who should be held accountable. All the rebel leaders are now dead with some killed while trying to surrender, another alleged war-crime documented by the report.
UN officials said that they would publish the finding unamended, despite ferocious objections from Sri Lanka, which insists that the panel of inquiry went beyond its mandate, and has warned of "irrevocable damage" to postwar reconciliation efforts.
Yet the leaks so far are widely believed to have come from the Sri Lankan Government, in an apparent attempt to discredit the UN, which is heavily criticised for suppressing its own figures for casualties during the conflict - a failure that the panel says cost civilian lives. The report's finding are consistent with an investigation by The Times immediately after the Tamil Tigers' defeat in May 2009, which established that at least 20,000 civilians had died, the majority as a result of government shelling.
The UN report paints a hellish picture of life inside the "no-fire zone" where 330,000 civilians were gathered, despite the Government's attempts to deflate that figure. Civilians were grouped with rebels to understate the number of innocents and justify the intense shelling.
UN international staff who witnessed the carnage were forced out of the area when their operational hub was shelled. "The UN security officer, a highly experienced military officer, and others present discerned that the shelling was coming from the south, from Sri Lanka army positions," the report said.
"Heavy shelling continued overnight and shells continued to hit the UN hub and the distribution centre, killing numerous civilians.
"When UN staff emerged from the bunker in the first morning light ... mangled bodies and body parts were strewn all around them, including those of many women and children."
UN officials attributed the delayed release of the findings to wrangling with Sri Lanka over an offer to publish their rebuttal alongside the report.
The report also represents a serious challenge to the leadership of the Ban Ki Moon, whose first term as UN Secretary-General will expire shortly.
Meanwhile, a UN panel said yesterday that "tens of thousands" of deaths in the Sri Lankan government's final 2009 offensive against Tamil separatists may amount to war crimes.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon said he could not order an international investigation into the deaths but he has decreed an inquiry into United Nations' actions during the conflict following criticism by the panel.
© The Australian
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