Ex-chief of Lanka army joins ruling alliance

Sri Lanka’s former army chief Sarath Fonseka yesterday joined the coalition government which has vowed to probe allegations of atrocities committed during the bloody finale of the island’s separatist war. Fonseka declared he had “nothing to hide” after signing an agreement with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to become part of the government which has promised justice for tens of thousands of war victims. “I have always said that I am ready to face any investigation,” Fonseka told reporters in Colombo. “We have nothing to hide. I feel that the allegations must be investigated.” Fonseka led troops to victory over Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, ending the 37-year war, but he fell out with then president Mahinda Rajapakse over who deserved the credit. The decorated general was then publicly humiliated, stripped of his rank, pension and medals collected in a 40-year career. He spent two years in jail and lost the right to contest elections for seven years. After winning presidential polls a year ago, Maithripala Sirisena used his executive powers to clear Fonseka of treason and other charges lodged against him after he mounted a failed bid to unseat Rajapakse at his January 2010 re-election. Sirisena’s government has agreed to set up special courts to investigate allegations that troops killed at least 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the war. Fonseka has always backed Rajapakse’s repeated claim that not a single civilian was killed during the conflict. Fonseka, whose fledgling party failed to win any seats at parliamentary elections in August, was not given any immediate role in the government yesterday. But sources said he was likely to be nominated to a vacant seat in the legislature in exchange for supporting the ruling party. Diplomatic sources said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein is expected in Sri Lanka in coming days to follow up on a September resolution calling for accountability for war-time rights abuses. On Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said the UN rights chief will be in Sri Lanka for four days from February 6. He will hold talks with leaders from the government and the opposition, and would also meet civil society members. The visit comes as a sequel to the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka adopted in October last year, that had prescribed an investigating mechanism with the participation of international judges, prosecutors and investigators. The visit assumes significance as an uncertainty prevails over the inclusion of foreign judges, after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in an interview to BBC Sinhala last week ruled out the participation of foreign judges in the inquiry. However, days later Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government did not rule out international involvement in the domestic judicial process to fix accountability of those who committed rights abuses and war crimes during the last phase of the brutal 30-year civil war that ended in 2009. Civil Society members have expressed concern over the contradiction and demanded a government policy statement on the UNHRC resolution, which was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka. Hussein in his report has advocated an international hybrid court to probe the alleged abuses. Sri Lanka has opted for a domestic mechanism with international experts assisting in the investigation. The UN rights chief has also cited historical attempts to cover-up investigations through domestic mechanisms, rather than genuine processes to seek the truth. Hussein is expected to raise the issues when he meets Sirisena, Wickremesinghe, leaders of main Tamil party - the Tamil National Alliance.