COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka's president vowed Friday to protect
the country's armed forces from possible international action over
allegations of human rights violations during the final months of the
island-nation's 26-year civil war.
President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, speaking at a ceremony marking the second
anniversary of the war's end, said his forces adhered to international
human rights law as they fought separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
"We
will not betray you to the world," Rajapaksa said, addressing the armed
forces. "Our forces carried the firearm in one hand and the human
rights charter in the other. Our forces never harbored hatred toward
any community or individual."
"Looking at how other countries fight wars, we are proud of the humaneness of our military campaign," he said.
A
recent report by a U.N. panel of experts accuses Sri Lanka's government
and the Tamil rebels of serious rights violations and potential war
crimes and recommends an independent international inquiry.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he cannot initiate an
international inquiry without a mandate from either the Sri Lankan
government or the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, Security Council or
General Assembly. It is unlikely Sri Lanka would consent to an
international inquiry.
The U.S. has urged Sri Lanka to investigate the allegations on its own, but it is unlikely to do so.
The
U.N. report says government forces deliberately targeted civilians and
hospitals, and blocked food and medicine for hundreds of thousands of
civilians trapped in the war zone. It also accuses the Tamil Tigers of
recruiting child soldiers, using civilians as human shields and killing
those trying to flee from their grip.
The government has denied the allegations and called the report biased.
Rajapaksa
on Friday castigated ethnic Tamil expatriates in Europe and the U.S.,
saying they are discrediting Sri Lanka internationally, resulting in
the panel report.
"They are using the freedom in those countries and electoral franchise to work against our country," he said.
According
to the U.N., between 80,000-100,000 people may have been killed in the
country's civil war, including at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians
killed in the last five months of the conflict. AP
