A commission of inquiry was set up last month to probe allegations that during the final phase of the country’s civil war, human rights were violated. The conflict between government forces and Tamil Tigers (LTTE) ended in May 2009. According to the United Nations, more than 7,000 civilians died in the last five months of the war.
Protests began last Tuesday in front of the UN headquarters in Sri Lanka. They were led by Infrastructure Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who yesterday began a hunger strike and stopped drinking to stop the investigation.
For the United Nations, it is unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the disruption of the normal functioning of the United Nations offices in Colombo.
“I am concerned,” said Geetha Lakmini Fernando, executive administrator of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO). Speaking to AsiaNews, she asked, “Who is going to feed the IDPs in the camps once UN agencies are gone from Sri Lanka? The government is not worried that these people are suffering. We are all victims and the UNDP is essential for a country like ours.”
Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe also spoke out. “The protest outside the UN office in Colombo has brought shame and disrepute to the country,” he said.
In another statement, the Communist-leaning Nava Sama Samaja Party, called “Minister Weerawansa, a clown, and the entire situation, absurd.”