Sri Lanka warns UN not to release war crimes report
- guardian.co.uk,
UN report reveals war crimes on both sides of civil conflict, but Sri Lankans fear it would harm ethnic reconciliation
A Tamil woman with one of her children in May 2009, at the end of the civil war. The UN says both Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels committed war crimes during the 26-year conflict. Photograph: Reuters
Sri Lanka has warned the UN that publicly releasing a report on alleged war crimes committed as its civil war was ending could harm efforts at post-war ethnic reconciliation.
Gamini Peiris, the foreign minister, told reporters that the UN panel had overstepped its mandate and become an investigative rather than an advisory body to the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.
The report handed to Ban last week criticised the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels on their conduct and said there were credible war crimes allegations against both sides.
The UN has not released the report officially, but media reports have been describing sections of it.
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The report handed to Ban last week criticised the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels on their conduct and said there were credible war crimes allegations against both sides.
The UN has not released the report officially, but media reports have been describing sections of it.
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