BS: More US interference...

Subject: BS: More US interference...
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 01:04 PM

US voices concern over 350 people 'disappeared' in Sri Lanka

2 hours, 33 minutes ago



COLOMBO (AFP) - The United States has voiced concern about the fate of 355 Sri Lankans who "disappeared" in recent months amid an escalation of the island's ethnic conflict, the government here said Friday.

US ambassador Robert Blake gave a list of 355 names of people whose whereabouts were unknown, the foreign ministry said.

It said Colombo took the issue seriously and had launched investigations into the list presented soon after a visit here in March by US Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Mann.

Mann raised concerns about human rights during his visit.

The Colombo government's statement came amid mounting local and international criticism of the island's rights record.

The US list of names contained a number of repetitions, the foreign ministry said in a statement. It did not say when the victims had disappeared or been abducted.

The US embassy confirmed that the United States had supplied Colombo with the list but declined to discuss details.

The statement came a day after a presidential commission said 430 civilians, were reported killed between September 14 and February 25 as the tropical island's Tamil separatist conflict escalated.

The majority of the dead belonged to the Tamil minority, the Special Presidential Commission on Disappearances said, and many of the victims were shot through the head with their hands tied behind their backs.

The government has yet to prosecute anyone for the killings, which were widely condemned home and abroad, but rights groups have accused the security forces, paramilitary groups and the Tamil Tiger rebels of involvement.

Aside from the deaths, 2,020 people were abducted or disappeared during the five-month period, the commission said. Some 1,134 were later found alive and reunited with their families but the fate of the remainder was unknown.

Sri Lanka's 35-year-old separatist conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

International donors have moved to cut back aid to Sri Lanka to increase pressure on Colombo over its poor human rights record. Britain and Germany have already frozen part of their contribution.

Japan, the single largest aid donor to the country, raised concern about the rights situation when Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama visited Tokyo earlier this week.

Subject: RE: BS: More US interference...
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 01:37 PM

I also heard we're after the japanese to apologize to and about the "comfort" women - funny, I don't see us apologizing to, say, the Native Americans...

Subject: RE: BS: More US interference...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 01:47 PM

Well, it's a bit cheeky coming from the proprietors of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib - but it does anything to help these poor people, that's good.

Maybe the Sri Lanka authorities could return the compliment by raising questions about US practices.