(October 23, 2009) The United States is asking the Sri Lankan government to open
to foreign inspection areas of the country where government forces are alleged to
have shelled displaced Tamils early this year in the final weeks of a 25-year secessionist
rebellion. Speaking of a new State Department report on the bloody finale of the
war, US spokesman Ian Kelly says it illustrates «some real concerns, obviously,» about
Sri Lanka's actions as the war wound down. He also said the United States has asked
the Sri Lankans privately as well as publicly to investigate, as he said they should
under international law. Kelly said the United States wants answers «about how this
military operation was conducted. They are also calling on the Sri Lankan government
to allow more access to international organizations. Hundreds of thousands of minority
Tamil civilians were forced into the camps after fleeing the final months of the war
with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in May. The report, posted Thursday
on the State Department's Web site, accused both the Sinhalese-dominated government
and the rebels of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of actions that could be described
as war crimes.