Sri Lankan government asked to reveal stance on UN internal review report

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) today called on the government to state its stance on the report by the UN internal review panel made public last week by the UN Secretary-General. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a news conference that the government has so far remained silent on the report of the UN internal review panel which after an 8-month investigation has decided that the UN system failed to meet its responsibilities in Sri Lanka during the last phase of the war. He noted that the government is quiet even when the UN has blamed its officials for shortcomings in their action during the period of the war. Attanayake pointed out that previous reports have faulted the government and the LTTE for various actions during the war. Noting the government's stance that there was no necessity to respond to the report since it was an internal UN report, Attanayake questioned why the government had come out strongly against the UN expert panel's report, which was appointed by the UN Secretary General to advise him.