Sri Lanka president defends troops on war crime claims

AFP | Google News
.............................................................................................................................................................................................

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday vowed to defend his military from war crimes allegations as the island marked the second year of its victory over Tamil Tiger rebels.

"We will not betray you to the world," Rajapakse told troops during a colourful military parade at Colombo's seafront Galle Face promenade to commemorate the war success.

Colombo is under pressure from the West, the United Nations and international rights groups to submit to a probe into alleged war crimes committed during the final stages of the war in 2009.

The United States has warned that Colombo's failure to credibly investigate the allegations and establish genuine reconciliation with its ethnic Tamil minority could lead to an international war crimes probe being imposed.

However, Sri Lanka has the backing of China and Russia at the UN security council to thwart a possible international inquiry.

A report by a panel of experts appointed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon said last month that there were "credible allegations" that both the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels had been guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Sri Lanka has reacted furiously to the claim and has repeatedly denied the findings.

Flanked by armed forces chiefs, Rajapakse did not directly refer to the UN, but said accusations against Sri Lanka were aimed at discrediting the military and sowing mistrust between the majority Sinhala and minority Tamil ethnic groups.

He said that Sri Lanka has restored "genuine human rights" for its 21 million people by "eliminating terrorism" that engulfed the nation for 37 years and claimed some 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

"Human rights cannot be guaranteed only by including it in the constitution. People will have to be liberated to enjoy it," the president said.

At the end of the month, Sri Lanka will host a three-day meeting called "Defeating Terrorism - Sri Lanka Experience" where it hopes to share its experience of defeating its separatists.

Fourty-two countries are expected to attend, including Russia, China and India, while most Western countries will stay away.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has called the event "a public relations exercise to whitewash abuses."

© AFP