Sri Lanka refuses cooperation with UN war crime investigation

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will not cooperate with a United Nations inquiry into alleged war crimes by government forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the final phase of their 26-year war, its foreign minister said on Monday.
The UN, through a United States-led resolution, last month set an international inquiry into the alleged war crimes and human rights abuses after the island nation’s government had failed to investigate them properly. Sri Lankan government has rejected the allegations.
Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said the government had not accepted the UN investigations due to concerns over its legality, fairness, and some conflict of interest issues.
“Where the government is required to do anything to support the investigation or to participate in it, the government will not do that,” Peiris said on Monday. “Nobody can come here without the cooperation of the Sri Lankan government.”
However, the government will not prevent anybody from giving evidence, he said.