by Shamindra Ferdinando
Denise Rollins
A senior US official yesterday admitted that the US could not, on its own, estimate the number of persons killed during the final phase of the conflict in Sri Lanka.
Visiting Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, Asia Bureau, USAID, Denise Rollins said so, addressing the media at the United States Information Service (USIS), Colombo before leaving for Jaffna to inspect a USIAD supported project to expand operations of an ice making factory at Point Pedro.
Rollins said that the US hadn’t estimated the number of victims, though various other organizations, which had access to war affected areas made allegations against the Sri Lankan government. She was responding to a query by The Island whether the US could provide some approximate figure as regards the number of people killed in the war because different parties were giving varying numbers, with the UK-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF), US-based LTTE activists and a British MP bandying about 40,000, over 70,000 and 100,000, respectively.
UNSG Ban Ki-moon’s Panel of Experts (PoE) estimated the number of dead at 40,000.
However, Rollins said that the US wanted the Sri Lankan government to investigate allegations.
Asked whether Rollins could clarify the basis for allegations made against the Sri Lankan military, as regards accountability issues and credible allegations of human rights violations, the official asserted that there were a spate of allegations made by those having access to the Northern region. She didn’t identify them.
Collins alleged that Tamil women living in the Northern region were facing what she termed as serious security issues. She didn’t specify what the serious issues were.
In her opening statement, Rollins emphasized that economic development was not enough, while insisting on the need for rapid progress in the national reconciliation process leading to enduring peace.
Rollins said that lasting peace would depend on transparent governance and addressing accountability issues during the final phase of the conflict, including civilian casualties and credible allegations of human rights violations.
While reiterating concerns over the impeachment of Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, Rollins said that the USAID would implement a $ 4.5 million project to assist the local judiciary. The proposed project would include technical assistance as well as training of judges and court administrators, she added.
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