The Sri Lankan government on Thursday rejected a US State Department report containing allegations of human rights abuses in the final days of the country’s civil war, saying the document would fan further conflict.
Based on accounts said by a senior US state department official to be “credible and well substantiated,” government forces abducted and killed ethnic Tamil civilians, shelled and bombed no-fire zones and killed senior rebel leaders with whom they had brokered a surrender.
Although the US said the allegations in the report did not constitute an accusation of war crimes, the Sri Lankan foreign affairs ministry in Colombo accused the US of smearing its reputation.
“The allegations against the government of Sri Lanka ... appear to be unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence. There is a track record of vested interests endeavoring to bring the government of Sri Lanka into disrepute, through fabricated allegations and concocted stories,” the ministry said.
The report includes allegations of violations by Tamil Tiger rebels, an organization the US deems a terrorist group. It includes claims that the rebels conscripted children as young as 12, used non-combatants as human shields and gunned down civilians attempting to flee rebel-held areas.
Stephen Rapp, US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, called on Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of abuse by both sides.
“We want accountability in this situation,” he said. “We believe that [Sri Lankan authorities] can investigate this. We’re trusting in that commitment.”
The 70 page report to Congress was compiled from intelligence reports from the US embassy in Colombo, text messages and photographs from the war zone, foreign government sources and reports from human rights and media organizations.
The report said it reached no conclusions on the veracity of the charges, although Rapp said the individual sources were “credible and reliable” and that allegations had been corroborated.
It came as more than 4,000 Tamils were released yesterday from government-run camps where they have been held since May. Hundreds more remain in what the UN describes as internment camps with inadequate sanitation and healthcare.
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