Sri Lanka says it won't submit war report to UN

Wednesday, 1 February 2012 01:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

AP: Sri Lanka says it will not forward to the U.N. its report clearing government forces of allegations they targeted civilians during the country's civil war, in an apparent attempt to avoid scrutiny of the document.

Sri Lanka last year successfully prevented discussion at the U.N. Human Rights Commission of an earlier U.N. report alleging that tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed during the final months of the war against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.

The U.N. report said there were credible allegations of war crimes against both sides but that most civilian deaths were caused by government shelling, and called for an international inquiry.

The Sri Lanka government argued at the time that it would conduct its own investigation instead.