Sri Lanka and Iran are finalising plans to expand trade ties between the two countries. Currently there is about $120 million worth of annual trade between the two countries, but the Iranian Foreign Minister expressed hopes that it would reach $400 million. 

In the last days of Sri Lanka’s war in mid-May 2009, over 300,000 Tamil civilians fled from the war zone and were housed in internment camps in sub-standard conditions. Gradually they have been released from the camps, and the Sri Lankan government has tried to claim credit for a ‘return to normalcy’ or improving conditions.

“During this month, we all must not be guilty of forgetting our history. We must instead actively remember the sufferings of our people, and educate our peers about their plight. We can all bear witness to the truth of what happened, and we must educate our friends, peers, coworkers, and neighbors.”

“President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited four selected editors to a meal last Friday, to seek their views and advice as to how the government should react to the panel report.

“Though all four were not from national newspapers two of them said that the government should consider even sending troops to New York to assault Ban Ki-moon if the need arises.

“It is completely obvious Sri Lanka is a country where people are subjected to various forms of persecution.

The European Parliament (EP) Thursday welcomed in a resolution the UN expert panel’s report on Sri Lanka and applauded UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who commissioning the report, for publishing it.

These are extracts from a speech in parliament on May 3 by Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National party (UNP), on the UN expert panel’s report on Sri Lanka’s war crimes (see full text here):

“We made it clear that we will whole-heartedly extend our cooperation to the government in respect of all genuine efforts to uphold our sovereignty and democracy.”

Two years after Sri Lanka's genocidal onslaught against the Tamil population reached a zenith in a tiny enclave in the island's north, the horrors unleashed between January and May 2009 have come under international scrutiny. The United Nations expert panel's report on the closing stages of the armed conflict has set out in harrowing detail how Sri Lanka's 'systematic persecution' resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands, through mass bombardment amid a blockade on food and medicine. The report has been welcomed by the US, UK and EU, among others, who have called for action over the war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The furor within Sri Lanka that followed the release of the UN report, however, has underlined the fundamental contradiction at the heart of the country's crisis. Whilst the Tamils have collectively welcomed the UN report and its call for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the war, the Sinhala polity, with overwhelming support from its constituents, have united in fierce opposition. The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has drawn support from the other Sinhala parties, including the main opposition UNP, in resisting an independent inquiry, as well as action over the mass crimes.

The following is a declaration by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on behalf of the European Union:

“The EU considers that the publication of the report of the UN Secretary-General Panel of Experts on accountability in Sri Lanka is an important development. It will be recalled that the EU had welcomed the appointment of the Panel by the UNSG in June 2010.

"The discussion of the applicable law and legal findings at p. 52 et seq [in the UN expert panel’s report on the conclusion of Sri Lanka’s war] seem to me to be more or less watertight. There are no flights of fancy here; even when broad or progressive, the legal findings are appropriately cautious when caution is warranted.”