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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 10261057" data-attributes="member: 92282">Sri Lanka is to hold an international seminar starting Tuesday to  share lessons on its bloody defeat of Tamil rebels, but major nations  have declined to send delegations amid war crime allegations.The island's government said the massive military offensive that  finally defeated the Tamil Tigers two years ago was a victory over  terrorism, and that other countries could benefit from studying its  success.But New York-based Human Rights Watch has urged a boycott of the  seminar, entitled "Defeating terrorism, Sri Lankan experience", over  claims that thousands of civilians died in military bombing of so-called  no-fire zones.Of the 54 countries invited, about 12 have declined, officials told AFP.Among the nations not sending delegations are the United States,  Britain, Australia, France, Japan and Switzerland, who had all pressed  Sri Lanka to investigate the alleged war crimes.China, the island's key arms supplier, is co-sponsoring the  conference, which will also be attended by a delegation from Russia,  another strong ally of President Mahinda Rajapakse."The Sri Lankan approach that succeeded in defeating the (rebels) was  the result of learning from years of fighting insurgency, strong  political will and harnessing popular support," a statement from the  seminar said."The panel presenting the Sri Lankan experience will share their  knowledge on counter-insurgency and enumerate contributory factors in  militarily defeating the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)."A panel of UN experts last month put together what they called  "credible allegations" of government forces shelling civilians, bombing  hospitals and killing surrendering rebel leaders."Sri Lanka's self-proclaimed 'model' of counter-insurgency included  repeatedly shelling civilians, targeting hospitals, and trying to  prevent the world from finding out about it," Human Rights Watch said.HRW's Asia Director Brad Adams said no rights-respecting nation  should take part in the conference and described the three-day meet as  an attempt to whitewash abuses.The government has rejected all calls for a war crimes probe into the  allegations and said it wanted to end the civil war to build national  unity in the ethnically divided country.China and Russia have helped Sri Lanka stave off censure at the UN, including the Human Rights Council in Geneva.The Tamil Tigers, who fought for an independent homeland for the  island's ethnic Tamil minority, were also accused of holding civilians  as human shields and killing those who tried to escape. The Tigers were once seen as the world's most effective guerrilla outfit.They controlled a third of the island's territory in the mid-1990s  and deployed suicide bombers to assassinate high profile targets.When a truce collapsed in 2006, Colombo brushed off calls for more  negotiations and unleashed a no-holds-barred offensive that killed the  last rebel leaders in May 2009.President Rajapakse on Friday marked the second anniversary of defeating the Tigers by again rejecting any war crimes probe."Our troops went to the battle front carrying a gun in one hand, the  Human Rights Charter in the other, food for the innocent displaced on  their shoulders, and love of their children in their hearts," Rajapakse  said. He is not due to address the seminar, but his youngest brother,  defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, is set to deliver the keynote  address on Tuesday.AFPJapan wants Lanka to work with UN<a href="http://www.elakiri.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1126038" target="_blank">http://www.elakiri.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1126038</a></blockquote>

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