GENEVA/COLOMBO: The United Nation’s human rights office said yesterday an independent probe into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka’s combat zone was vital as officials said some 50,000 civilians were still trapped by the fighting.
“There has to be accountability for what has gone on in Sri Lanka, there has to be clarity and there cannot be impunity,” said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on the eve of a trip to Sri Lanka by a top UN envoy. Pillay warned in March that both sides may be guilty of war crimes.
Colville told AFP that an inquiry would need to look into “the conduct of the war, which includes possible war crimes.” Thousands more civilians were thought to have been hit by heavy shelling in the narrowing Vanni Peninsula, while more evidence had emerged of rebels shooting at or killing people who tried to escape, Colville observed.
His comments came as the UN Secretary General’s adviser on displaced people warned that nearly 250,000 civilians in the northeast were either trapped in the conflict area or interned by the government in “dire” conditions.
Walter Kaelin called on the Tamil Tiger rebels to “let the remaining civilians go and both sides to agree to humanitarian pauses.” Kaelin said in a statement that at least 50,000 displaced people were still caught in fighting in a four square kilometer conflict zone.
Sri Lanka’s military yesterday said that Tamil Tigers are “slowly giving up” their fight against advancing government troops. The military yesterday appeared poised to capture the last tiny strip of rebel territory.
The navy said it had captured the family of a top Tamil Tiger military commander — Sea Tiger chief Col. Soosai — as they tried to escape by boat. But there was no sign of rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa also vowed that “all territory will be freed from Tiger control” by Sunday morning.
