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Rajapakse war Criminal - WikiLeaks -
Oxford Union cancel's his
speech

Leaked U.S. documents say
American diplomats accused top Sri Lankan
officials, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
of playing a role in last year's alleged
massacre of Tamil civilians and Tamil Tiger
rebels. The classified diplomatic cable sent
last January by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo is
one of thousands the website WikiLeaks made
public this week. In the cable, U.S. officials
wrote that the Sri Lankan government showed no
signs of investigating alleged human rights
violations committed by its side in the closing
months of a 25-year-old civil war between the
rebels and government. The officials say any
effort to investigate is further complicated
because President Rajapaksa, his brothers and
opposition candidate, former army commander
Sarath Fonseka, are responsible for many of the
alleged crimes. Sri Lankan forces defeated the
Tamil Tigers in May of last year, ending their
decades-long campaign for an independent state.
The United Nations says at least 7,000 ethnic
Tamil civilians were killed in the last months
of fighting. Human rights groups have accused
both the Tigers and government forces of human
rights violations during the conflict. Sri Lanka
denied its troops committed war crimes and has
rejected a U.N. probe into the fighting.
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On Thursday, a British group
canceled a planned speech by President Rajapaksa
after his visit raised security concerns. The
Oxford Union was scheduled to host the speech by
Mr. Rajapaksa, who arrived in Britain for a
visit Monday. Sri Lanka's minority Tamil group
had planned to protest the address. Mr.
Rajapaksa said he is sorry the speech had to be
canceled, but that he will continue to seek
places to talk about his "future vision for Sri
Lanka." The Oxford Union released a statement
Wednesday saying its decision was not related to
Mr. Rajapaksa's political positions.
Courtesy:VoA