Colombo to 'rehabilitate' rebels

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The Sri Lankan military has said that several thousand suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have been questioned by judges and will now undergo "rehabilitation".

Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said about 2,000 Tamils, who had admitted belonging to the Tigers, were likely to face trial.

He said that suspected Tamil Tiger guerrillas are being kept separate from thousands of displaced Tamil civilians.

The government has again insisted it is doing all it can to look after them.

'Welfare camps'

"They have taken guns, fought against the army. So they have to go through rehabilitation so that they can live as normal Sri Lankans," Brig Nanayakkara said of the 2,000 people who are "self confessed" former rebels.

Aid agencies have expressed concern about conditions in the camps

He said that the process of "weeding out and rehabilitating" them was already under way and each one has been brought before judges.

He said that said anyone who had been trained by the Tamil Tigers to carry arms was considered a combatant.

"Since the start of fighting in different locations, 9,100 Tamil Tiger cadres have self-confessed," he said.

"We have sent 7,000 of them to welfare camps for rehabilitation after legal proceedings, while others are facing court proceedings."

The military says that it killed 22,000 rebel fighters during its 34-month offensive to end the 25-year civil war and lost 6,200 of its own soldiers.

Squalid conditions

On Tuesday, the UN's high commissioner for human rights called for an independent investigation into alleged atrocities by both sides in Sri Lanka's civil war.

Ms Pillay said there was reason to believe abuses had taken place

Navi Pillay said it was the only way to build a sustainable peace in Sri Lanka.

Her comments to the UN's Human Rights Council (UNHRC) came amid growing concern for more than 250,000 civilians now living in government-run camps.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan visited one of those camps and found squalid conditions.

Our correspondent says that displaced people are surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers.

Many do not know what has happened to their relatives who disappeared in the chaos of the final stages of the war.

One resident said that 30 people had to stay in one small tent and many complained of severe water shortages, sanitation and hygiene problems.

The military has so far refused to release the refugees, saying they must be screened to weed out any Tamil rebels who may be hiding among them.

Aid agencies have also been pressing the government for better access to the camps to help the displaced.

The government insists it is doing everything it can to help them. It has strongly rejected Ms Pillay's assertions that it committed atrocities during the war.

'Commendable'

"Most of the countries which spoke at the sessions praised us for defeating terrorism," Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Management, Mahinda samarasinghe told the BBC sinhala service.

Both sides have been accused of committing abuses against civilians

"The majority of the delegates said the efforts by the government to rescue them and the efforts we have undertaken to give them a better life is commendable".

The minister said that "no-one was really taking much notice" of Ms Pillai's appeal for an investigation and that she had "no evidence to accuse the government of Sri Lanka of human rights abuses".

"I think Navaneetham Pillai had caught the wrong bus," he said.

In her opening speech to the UNHRC's emergency summit in Geneva, Ms Pillay said there were "strong reasons to believe that both sides have grossly disregarded the fundamental principle of the inviolability of civilians".

She said an "independent and credible international investigation" should be carried out to establish "the occurrence, nature and scale of violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as specific responsibilities".

"Establishing the facts is crucial to set the record straight regarding the conduct of all parties in the conflict," she said.

"Victims and survivors have a right to justice and remedies."

Her comments were echoed by the UN's Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, who told the BBC an investigation was essential if the country was to move forward.

Mr Holmes said the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) had used civilians as human shields "in the most cynical and brutal way", but that civilians had also been "affected very badly" by being caught up in army shelling.