Sri Lanka says US report on civil war’s end ‘unsubstantiated’

COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan government Thursday called a US congressional report on the recently ended conflict with separatist Tamil rebels “unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence”.

But the US embassy in Colombo defended the report, saying a majority of the incidents cited originated from first-hand accounts from people who had been in government-declared “no fire zones” and locations close to the fighting during military operations that concluded in May with the defeat of the rebels, who had been fighting for a separate state for Sri Lanka’s Tamil ethnic minority.

The contents of the report handed over Wednesday to the Sri Lankan government have not been made public.

The US embassy said the report detailed incidents that occurred during the final months of the conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that might constitute violations of international humanitarian law or crimes against humanity.

“The report compiles alleged incidents, as reported by a wide range of primary and secondary sources, involving both sides in the conflict,” the US embassy said.

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry, referring to the report, said in a statement that there were vested interests endeavouring to bring the Sri Lankan government into disrepute through fabricated allegations and stories.

“These interests hope to fan, once again, the flames of secessionism and to undo the concerted efforts of the government and people of Sri Lanka for rehabilitation and national reconciliation,” it said. “The people of Sri Lanka, therefore, have every reason to be concerned that this report to the US Congress may be abused for a similar end.”

The US embassy said that the US recognised a state’s inherent right to defend itself from armed attacks, including those by non-state actors, such as a “terrorist group like the LTTE,” but also expects states and non-state actors to comply with their international legal obligations, including the obligation to protect civilians in armed conflict.

The US Congress report came less than three days after the European Union also submitted a report that accused the government of violating international human rights laws. The report had been prepared in the process of considering trade preferences for Sri Lanka, mainly for its garment sector.

Sri Lanka might lose concessions amounting to $100 million if the concessions are not granted, leaving nearly 300,000 garment sector jobs at risk.