UN panel can only testify before LLRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2010, 12:47 GMT]
The UN panel set to advice the Secretary General Ban ki Moon on war crimes in Sri Lanka, can only testify before the LLRC set by the war crimes accused Rajapaksa government. "The U.N. panel will be given visas only to testify before the LLRC if they request, and not for any investigations [...] This is the government stance and there is no change in that. The U.N. has so far not requested visa in this regard," said the spokesman of Colombo, Keheliya Rambukwella, speaking to media in Colombo Thursday. However, informed circles said that the UN establishment, sharing mutual interests with Colombo, may make behind the scene arrangements for the UN panel to meet the LLRC outside the island to exchange notes and decide strategies.

The last stages of the war in Tamil Eelam in the island took the lives of 40,000 people in a short span of time, according to a former official in charge of the UN activities in Colombo during the war.

But, during the war, the UN Security Council preferred to discuss the affairs of the island only in the ‘backrooms’ of the Security Council Sessions.