The international community is losing patience with Sri Lanka over its failure to investigate war crimes allegations, the United States has warned after new details emerged of atrocities.
Washington’s leading diplomat for South Asia, Nisha Biswal, said she hoped Sri Lanka would soon start its own investigation into United Nations claims that 40,000 civilians were killed in the last few months of the country’s long civil war in 2009.
Many of them were killed by army shelling of a so-called 'no-fire zone’ which civilians had been urged to flee to for safety. There are also allegations that senior leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) were killed as they tried to surrender.
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The urgency was highlighted by a detailed report by the French charity Action Against Hunger (ACT) this week which claimed 17 of its local staff were executed by Sri Lankan forces in 2006.
According to the charity, its managers lost radio contact with local staff working in Muttur in Sri Lanka’s northern province on August 4 2006 where they were the last aid workers to remain as government and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in battle. They had been providing relief for the survivors of the 2004 tsunami, but were, along with other aid groups, suspected by government forces of being Tamil Tiger sympathisers.
A few days later they were found dead. According to the charity’s own investigation, the staff had been lined up against the wall of their compound, forced to their knees and then shot dead at point blank range. Full story...
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Washington’s leading diplomat for South Asia, Nisha Biswal, said she hoped Sri Lanka would soon start its own investigation into United Nations claims that 40,000 civilians were killed in the last few months of the country’s long civil war in 2009.
Many of them were killed by army shelling of a so-called 'no-fire zone’ which civilians had been urged to flee to for safety. There are also allegations that senior leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) were killed as they tried to surrender.
(...)
The urgency was highlighted by a detailed report by the French charity Action Against Hunger (ACT) this week which claimed 17 of its local staff were executed by Sri Lankan forces in 2006.
According to the charity, its managers lost radio contact with local staff working in Muttur in Sri Lanka’s northern province on August 4 2006 where they were the last aid workers to remain as government and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in battle. They had been providing relief for the survivors of the 2004 tsunami, but were, along with other aid groups, suspected by government forces of being Tamil Tiger sympathisers.
A few days later they were found dead. According to the charity’s own investigation, the staff had been lined up against the wall of their compound, forced to their knees and then shot dead at point blank range. Full story...
Related posts:
- Sri Lanka's forces accused of massacring aid workers...
- Fate of Tamil propagandist and TV presenter: chilling new evidence from Sri Lanka
- No Fire Zone: the killing fields of Sri Lanka...(Graphic)
- Handed a snack, and then executed: the last hours of the 12-year-old son...
- Sri Lanka's killing fields 2. Unpunished war crimes. (Graphic)
- Sri Lanka's killing fields (Graphic)
- Thousands missing in Sri Lanka as people continue to disappear...
- Dark days in Sri Lanka...
- Sri Lanka case study: the 28-year-old man beaten to death in prison...
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