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Sri Lanka: Something rotten in the island-State

Notwithstanding an attempt by the Sri Lankan government to entice tourists and that peace has no come to the once war-torn country, there remains something very rotten in the island-State.

"In late September, the government of Sri Lanka released 1,800 former Tamil Tiger fighters.
Colombo claimed they had been rehabilitated as President Mahinda Rajapaksa told them at a ceremony in the capital:

"I hope you will work for peace and ethnic harmony in this nation of ours. We must not dwell on the bitter past, but look to a prosperous future."

Many other former fighters remain incommunicado, housed in secret camps away from international inspection or human rights protection.

This is occurring in "democratic" Sri Lanka, a nation still deeply divided along racial and political lines.

The over two years since the official end of the country's brutal civil war has seen an attempted re-branding exercise by the Rajapaksa regime, including the encouragement of a vibrant tourist sector.

Despite the fact that the government murdered at least 40,000 Tamil civilians during the last period of the war (a figure confirmed by then UN spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss), the international community has been reluctant to hold officials to account.

A thorough UN-led investigation found overwhelming evidence of war crimes committed by both sides during the conflict and Ban Ki-Moon recently submitted this report to the UN Human Rights Council for investigation. The move was condemned by Colombo.

After a 10-month investigation, the UN found that "most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war were caused by government shelling". Furthermore, it made accusations that Sri Lankan troops had shelled civilians in the "no-fire zone" and targeted hospitals in its desire to crush the Tamil Tigers.

A recently released WikiLeaks cable revealed that when Ban Ki-Moon visited the country in 2009 he witnessed "complete destruction" when he flew over the former "no-fire zone". He described the conditions of Manik Farm refugee camp as worse than anything he had ever seen before."

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