David Cameron presses Sri Lankan president over war crimes
A spokesman for the British Prime Minister has denied media reports from Sri Lanka on Thursday that David Cameron had had a “cordial” meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinida Rajapakese during diamond jubilee celebrations in London. 
Amid confusion as to the exact direction of British foreign policy towards Sri Lanka, Channel 4 News has learned that the British Prime Minister in fact demanded accountability for alleged war crimes when the two leaders met .
In May 2009, following the brutal end of a long civil war, President Rajapakse had promised the United Nations Secretary General that allegations of war crimes committed by Sri Lankan forces would be properly investigated.
The United Nations Human Rights Council said this year that a proper, independent investigation had yet to take place.
Mr Cameron and Mr Rajapakse were photographed standing next to each other at a jubilee lunch hosted by the Commonwealth Secretary General for the Queen on Wednesday.
Hundreds of Tamil protestors had gathered outside Marborough House and burned and hanged effigies of the Sri Lankan President as he and other heads of government arrived for the lunch. The President was driven past the protestors in an unmarked police Range Rover.
The Sri Lankan Daily Mirror quoted the President’s spokesman, Bandula Jayasekera as saying that Mr Cameron and Mr Rajapakse had held a “cordial” meeting and that the President had briefed the Prime Minister “on the development in the country” [sic].
Mr Jayasekera told the Colombo Gazette that “Mr Cameron and Mr Rajapakse had held “one-to-one talks”. The paper said that “the details of that discussion [were] not immediately made available by the President’s office.”
Now it is clear why those details were not made available. Their “one-to-one” was not what most people would consider a “friendly” chat.
“The Prime Minister raised the issue of making sure that allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka were properly investigated,” said Craig Oliver, the Prime Minister’s spokesman. At the request of Channel 4 News, he had checked directly with Mr Cameron during a prime ministerial visit to Norway on Thursday.
We have been unable to contact Mr Jayasekera for a response to this. Last night, the Sri Lankan president left London for Rome, where he is understood to have arranged an audience with the Pope at the Vatican. Recent efforts to secure an interview with the president by Channel 4 News were brusquely rebuffed by Mr Jayasekera.
The Sri Lankan government used an earlier presidential visit to London for apparently propaganda purposes at home, presenting Mr Rajapakse as being warmly welcomed – when that is not in fact what happened.
In December 2010 the president’s planned address at the Oxford Union debating society had to be cancelled because of security fears over planned demonstrations. The president was later photographed with the then Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, during a private meeting at the Dorchester Hotel, where Mr Rajapakse was staying.
The pictures appeared on the president’s website and in Sri Lankan newspapers and were presented as official British government endorsement of the president.
Following the screening of the award-winning Channel 4 documentary Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields last year, the Prime Minister said the “extremely powerful programme” had referred to what he called “some very worrying events”. The events in question were the reported killing of an estimated 40,000 Tamil civilians by government forces at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Cameron said that “the Sri Lankan government does need this to be investigated… and we need to make sure we get to the bottom of what happened… ”
In March this year, Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said that a follow-up Channel 4 documentary War Crimes Unpunished “reinforced the need for that investigation.”
The following week, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling on Sri Lanka to initiate “credible and independent actions” to ensure justice and accountability.
There are 19 comments on this post
How can one allow a murder to investigate his own murder? We have all evidences in public domain the order to ‘finish off’ came from the top / rajapaksa himself ?
It is a great relief to world to eliminate LTTE terror once and all. As US president has ordered OBL to be finished off SL president has ordered VP to be finished off. That was a relief to all peace loving people.
ya, it is like asking bin laden to conduct his own investigation for the crimes he committed in sep 11. the truth behind this kind of escaping resolution is to keep the business dealings with sri lanka alive. no government is willing to break their business dealings with sri lanka.
DAVID COMRON MUST BE IMAGINING THAT THE REST OF THE WORLD IS FULL OF FOOLS and he could CHEAT THEM EASILY BY asking WITHOUT ANY MORALE OR RESPECT FOR HUMAN VALUES OR RIGHTS that the MURDERER HIMSELF MUST INVESTIGATE THE MURDER and still call it”INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION”.
LTTE has killed so many innocent people and heads of state in Sri Lanka as well as India. Shouldn’t they be accountable for thier action? Why no one is probing this aspect?
Frankly, it is ABSOLUTELY disgusting that a so called “democratic” country can allow a mass murderer to enter at his will. It is unbelievably atrocious that the Srilankan president is greeted by a smiling Queen while he is to blame for the deaths of more than 40,000 INNOCENT civilians. After years of begging for equal rights like everybody else this is what a “prestigious” country has to offer. We are just asking for the right to be human just like everybody else. Is this too much to ask for?
British Foreign and Commonwealth office should have a clear policy towards allowing unsavoury visitors like the Sri Lankan president in. Mahinda and his cohorts are so shameless that they will be using these photos as proof that British Government embraced him without any reservations.
Thank you Jonathan for clarifying.
apart from the investigations about whom already dead, the international community should pressure sri lanka to release the information of ‘prisoners of war’ who are under the government custody. it was estimated around 10,000 ltte members surrendered and the government should release the details of every single person who surrendered. Prisoners of war in sri lanka is a classical example of modern time slaves and this is all happening in a country which preaches Buddhism. unbelievable!!!
These nations the USA ,UK and INDIA will NEVER CALL FOR INDEPENDENT investigations as they are the ones who provided srilanka with the necessary MORAL ,MACHINERY AND MONITORY support to carry out the TAMIL GENOCIDE and made sure the people of the world new nothing about it.
BUT THE TRUTH WILL REVEAL ITSELF ONE DAY-THANKS TO CHANNEL 4.
A GENUINE INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION will easily EXPOSE the immense contribution of the USA ,UK and INDIA in the wipe out of ENTIRE TAMIL RACE from srilanka.
So the USA ,UK and INDIA shamelessly manipulated the UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL to bury the UN PANEL OF EXPERTS REPORT that CALLED FOR IMMEDIATE INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIONS and brought a resolution IN FAVOR OF SRILANKA allowing it time to destroy the evidence and investigate it’s own cruelty.
No one is surprised that DAVID CAMRON and MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE HAD FUN OVER A GLASS OF WINE at queens birthday as the UK GOVERNMENT HAS EARNED FAT LOT OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE by selling WEAPONS OS MASS DESTRUCTION to srilanka through LIAM FOX to help
TAMIL GENOCIDE.
If these guys think they can easily GET AWAY WITH MASS MURDERING THE PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING FOR THEIR GENUINE RIGHTS AND INDEPNDENCE,they have got it wrong…..
THE ALMIGHTY IS WATCHING THEIR INTENTIONS AND BRUTALITY AND WILL PUNISH THEM WHEN THEIR TIME IS UP.
I watched the CHANNEL 4 SRILANKA’S KILLING FIELDS and thought no human would have ever imagined any thing any where close to what was revealed.
It is BRUTAL MASSACRE OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS by the SRILANKAN GOVERNMENT.
And DAVID CAMRON thought it was MERELY an extremely powerful “PROGRAM” and his actions justify what he said-Not only did he not do any thing about it but he forces the survived tamil victims right back into the jaws of GENOCIDAL SRILANKAN GOVERNMENT to be massacred again.
Thank you very much Channel 4 News. Channel 4 News has far exceeded expectations by thoroughly exposing the atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan government forces. The Channel 4 News updates on Sri Lanka keep the world informed of the dire situation of innocent Tamils in post-war Sri Lanka.
I have been pleased to see The Channel 4 News hold itself to this standard.
I wish to thank Channel 4 with all my heart for giving voice to the thousands of voiceless people who were massacred by the Rajapakse regime. Until a mechanism for international independent investigation is achieved, the Channel 4 should sustain it’s campaign for justice ruthlessly. God bless Channel 4
Standing next to world leaders and taking pictures and pro-actively putting forward his name for speeches are Rajapasa’s attempts to launder his name. He stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by relatives of the Tamil people who were massacred by his war on them. He defies calls for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the war despite compelling evidence indicating serious violations of IHL.
The Tamil people are extremely angry at the double standards applied in dealing with countries like Syria and Libya compared to SriLanka in protecting innocent civilians from state tyranny.
The Tamils clamoured as loud as they can during the hight of the war calling the international community to protect their kith and kin,to no avail. It has been three years since the end of the war and the persecution of Tamils continues unabated.
The Tamil fishermen from the coastal villages in their Homeland have been driven out of their homes now occupied by Sinhala fishermen. Tamil farmers have been driven out of their lands now occupied by Sinhala settlers from the south.The Tamils are denied their basic right to life in sri lanka where there is no welfare state.
UK.How many civilians you have killed in Iraq and Afghanisthan to protect your soil from terrorist attacks.Why are we deprived of that right.Those civilians went with the tigers and they are at least partly responsible for their fate.Stop shedding crocodile tears channel 4.You are just making the wound worse and that does not help the people of North and East either.
I agree prem…
Also wow… how the tamil people in the UK thinks that they have all the power to even think that they can control the president of sri lanka to be not greeted by the Uk government and queen..
In fact UK gov nor the queen cares about your poor tamil soul.. Why don’ the tamil people actually go bother the indian government to go give the tamil people a separate state – tamil badu.. which is where you tamils are really from and have connections to.
why are you tamils so hostile in a island such as sri lanka which is a small nice island in the indian ocean? really? they have no where else to go but you tamils have indian as your main homeland!
so pl figure out!
Thank you for the hard work. Excellent summery of the events that has taken place up to now. Three years gone but there is no progress. David Cameron, President Obama & UN have to expedite their agenda. There are people still in prison, camps & torture dungeon. Thousands are missing. Answers urgently needed
We are now seeing tamils arriving to australia affraid we dont need them as i followed the story of how brutal the tamils were against the sri lankans NOw its onthe other foot.They should pack up and go to india where they belong horrible crimes they committed they should stand for there war crime the tamil
Unfortunately we’re not seeing enough action to justify a peaceful end to this atrocity.
Gordon, I’m sure the Tamil people prefer to stay in SL rather than Australia, (I personally don’t get your accent-muddled, isn’t it…) Aussie will do when the alternative is torture or rape-so duh, but well done you!
The UN really are taking their time on this and C4 please keep up with exploiting these sickos,…