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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 8072084" data-attributes="member: 92282">                                          Sri Lanka has officially begun its investigation  into the country's decades-long civil war, with a government-appointed  panel set to hear testimony in the capital, as well as in a former war  zone. Wednesday's opening was a ceremonial event, with testimony expected to start on the second day of the hearings, on August 17.                                                                                                 The eight-member panel will hear testimony on  five separate days in the capital and two days in Vavuniya, near the  former war zone, an official statement said. The inquiry is expected to focus on why a 2002 truce between the  government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam collapsed and led to  more fighting.                                                               The president's office has said the panel will  also make recommendations on how to ensure the country does not return  to conflict. Independent inquiry call Around 7,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the civil war last year, according to a United Nations report. Colombo, however, has rejected the UN report, and refused to allow any independent body to investigate war crimes allegations. US legislators have called for an independent international inquiry  into possible war crimes, arguing that the panels set up by the  Colombo-based government "lacked the needed credibility". "There is mounting evidence that suggests both parties in the  conflict committed severe human rights violations during the conflict,"  US congressmen said in a letter addressed to Hillary Clinton, the US  secretary of state. "We urge you to call for a robust and independent international  investigation that would finally clarify the events that occurred during  the conflict and provide the foundation for a sustainable peace in Sri  Lanka."<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/08/20108117241491813.html" target="_blank">aljazeera</a>A group of US lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to push for  an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes that  occurred during Sri Lanka's civil war.In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the members  of Congress called for such a probe saying panels set up by the Sri  Lankan government to probe the allegations "lacked the needed  credibility."These panels have "also delayed criminal investigations and in several  instances members of these commissions have resigned in protest at the  government's interference," the letter said, citing Amnesty  International.The letter was signed by some 57 members of the US House of Representatives."There is mounting evidence that suggests both parties in the conflict  committed severe human rights violations during the conflict," it said.In May last year, capping a four-decade civil war, Sri Lankan government  troops finally defeated the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil  Ealam."We urge you to call for a robust and independent international  investigation that would finally clarify the events that occurred during  the conflict and provide the foundation for a sustainable peace in Sri  Lanka," the letter said.       <a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/index.php/news/5736-congress-wants-probe.html" target="_blank">Dailymirror</a></blockquote>

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