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Message: <blockquote data-quote="monson" data-source="post: 17628790" data-attributes="member: 30005">Colombo - Under pressure from his main opponent in next month's elections, Sri Lanka's president has promised a judicial inquiry into allegations his troops killed thousands of Tamil civilians at the end of the civil war.But President Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday reiterated he would not cooperate with a UN-mandated investigation into the government's 2009 crushing of the Tamil Tiger rebellion."If any rights have been violated (during the war), justice will be ensured through a transparent domestic judicial mechanism," Mr Rajapakse said in his election manifesto. It did not say how this would differ from an inquiry he ordered in July, following intense foreign pressure to account for the 2009 killing of Tamil civilians.A 2011 United Nations report cited estimates from "credible sources" that up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months of the war.Mr Rajapakse is credited with crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels who at the height of their power between 1990 and 1995 controlled a third of Sri Lanka's territory. But he is also accused of rights abuses and is perceived by some as an increasingly authoritarian ruler.Maithripala Sirisena, his main opponent in the January 8 presidential election, has already promised a similar investigation.Mr Rajapakse was seen as the favourite when he called the snap election in November, two years ahead of schedule.But Mr Sirisena has emerged as a formidable opponent after securing the support of all the main opposition groups, including the tacit support of minority Tamils.The New York-based political risk analysis firm Eurasia Group said the opposition's Mr Sirisena was likely to "narrowly win," but that a desperate Rajapakse could still use security forces to discourage opposition supporters from voting.Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told business leaders in Colombo on Tuesday that a majority in the armed forces were sympathetic to the opposition and he expected a peaceful transition.Tamils account for about 15 per cent of the population and will be kingmakers if, as seems likely, the majority Sinhalese community is split down the middle between Rajapakse and Sirisena.AFP - <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/sri-lankan-president-mahinda-rajapakse-promises-war-crimes-inquiry-20141224-12d6ya.html" target="_blank">http://www.smh.com.au/world/sri-lankan-president-mahinda-rajapakse-promises-war-crimes-inquiry-20141224-12d6ya.html</a></blockquote>

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