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UN rights office backs Lankan war probe

Colombo sends home 41,000 war-displaced Tamil civilians

AFP, Geneva/ Colombo
The office of the UN human rights chief renewed its call yesterday for a probe into alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan troops and Tamil rebels during the final stages of the country's civil war.
"We still believe that something like die Gaza fact-finding mission is certainly warranted given the widespread concerns about the conduct of the war in Sri Linka," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for UN High Commissioner for Ituman Rights Navi
Colville was referring to the controver sial probe by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone into the recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,
Goldstone's fact-finding mission was set up by a vote in the 47 member state UN Human Rights Council, which has so far not taken up the Sri Lankan issue.
The United States on I hursday urged Sri Lanka to probe allegations of war crimes committed by government troops and Tamil l iger rebels towards the of their decades-old conflict earlier this year.
The call followed publication of a US State Department report that contained claims of atrocities committed by both sides.
Colville underlined that the US report did not constitute the necessary full inquiry but he acknowledged that it catalogues in quite some detail specific events that have been reported.-'
"It seems that more clarity is likely to emerge about who did what to whom and whether or not war crimes and crimes against humanity and other very serious war crimes were committed by one or both sides," he added.
The UN human rights office also urged the Sri Lankan government to honour pledges that it would allow displaced Tamils out of government-run camps and seek to reduce discrimination against the Tamil minority.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, under pressure to release 250,000 Tamil civilians dis placed in the final defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels, has begun resettling some who fled their homes more than two years ago.
The top government administrator in the northern town of Vavuniya, PSM Charles, said 41,000 civilians were being released from camps and allowed to return home.
"Those released fled their homes when fighting broke out in their areas over two years ago. Some of them will stay in school buildings in their areas till they are able to renovate their houses," Charles told AFP.