Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Sri Lanka Friday to ensure a new panel investigating possible rights abuses be given powers to probe any allegations of war crimes during its long civil conflict.
Clinton said the United States firmly backed Sri Lanka's move to set up the new committee, but that it was crucial that the panel have both the money and the mandate to dig deep into the history of the government's almost three decade-long war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"We expect that it will be given a broad enough mandate with the resources necessary to be able to follow the trail of any evidence that is presented," Clinton said following a meeting with Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris.
Civil rights groups have said the Sri Lankan government should be investigated for potential war crimes at the end of the war a year ago against separatist Tamil guerrillas. Colombo has denied the allegations and rejected charges that tens of thousands of civilians died.
Sri Lanka has a long history of inquiries into rights abuses that have largely failed to hold anyone accountable, and analysts say the new committee appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa does not have the statutory powers of a commission of inquiry and is acting only as an advisory body.
Clinton said the United States -- which has cited both the government and guerrillas for alleged abuses against civilians in the conflict -- believed the committee should probe and publicize serious allegations of rights violations.
"I think that this commission holds promise and we hope and expect that it will fulfill that promise," Clinton said.
Sri Lanka is under heavy Western pressure over its human rights record, pressure the government blames on members of the Tamil diaspora who have settled in European countries or the United States and are angry the LTTE were beaten.
Peiris said the commission had been given adequate finances to begin its work and repeated that it was too early for the United Nations to set up its own panel as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has vowed to do.
"If we feel there is a need for support, then we will certainly be happy engage in a dialogue with the United Nations," Peiris said.
"But we think that at the start, the (Sri Lankan) commission must be given every encouragement to set about its work and there must be a presumption that it is going to succeed," he said.
The State Department announced this week that it had canceled a travel warning for the Indian Ocean island state.
Reuters
VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/05/142354.htm
US to 'observe' probe by Lanka commission into 'war crimes'
The United States today said it will "observe" functioning of the reconciliation commission set up by the Sri Lankan government, hoping that it will have broad mandate to pursue allegations of wartime atrocities.
Secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who held talks with visiting Sri Lankan foreign minister GL Peiris, also said Washington fully supports ethnic and political reconciliation efforts of the Island nation.
"We are very supportive of the approach taken by the Sri Lankans. We will continue to work with them and observe this
commission. We expect it would be given a broad enough mandate with the resources necessary to be able to follow the trail of any evidence that is presented," Clinton said.
Lanka recently set up the commission to probe allegations of human rights violations during the last phase of the civil war but did not allow any independent body to investigate the charges despite pressure from global community.
"It is important that the Commission members be and are perceived as being independent, impartial and competent. We expect that the mandate would enable them to fully investigate serious allegations of violations, that they make public their recommendations..," she said, adding the issue of internally displaced people was also discussed.
Pleased that the Sri Lankan Government is committed to re-establish democracy in the country after the end of nearly three decades of civil war that ended with the defeat of LTTE last year, Clinton said: "Sri Lanka would remain a strong and
united country by drawing on the strength of all of its citizens, valuing the diversity of its people and ensuring equal rights."
Peiris said one of the challenges in Sri Lanka is to revive the institutions of democracy, now that the country is returning to normal.
dnaindia
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