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Content from the United States diplomatic cables leak has depicted Sri Lanka and related subjects extensively. The leak, which began on 28 November 2010, occurred when the website of WikiLeaks — an international new media non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous news sources and news leaks — started to publish classified documents of detailed correspondence — diplomatic cables — between the United States Department of State and its diplomatic missions around the world. Since the initial release date, WikiLeaks is releasing further documents every day. 3,166 of the 251,287 diplomatic cables obtained by Wikileaks are from the US Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka. ==War crimes== In a cable dated 15 January 2010 on the subject of war crimes accountability, the US ambassador in Colombo Patricia A. Butenis implicated President Mahinda Rajapaksa in alleged war crimes committed in the final months of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Butenis pointed out "that responsibility for many of the alleged () crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers (Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa) and opposition candidate General Fonseka. Butenis stated that only "few tentative steps" had been taken on accountability and that there was little likelihood of anyone being held accountable for the war crimes, stating "There are no examples...of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power". Butenis believed that there was a difference of opinion between the Sri Lankan Tamils living in Sri Lanka and those in the diaspora as to how to pursue the accountability issue. For the diaspora accountability was a "top-priority" but Tamils in Sri Lanka were more "pragmatic in what they can expect".〔 The Sri Lankan Tamils were more concerned with improving their rights, freedoms and economic prospects.〔 They believed pushing for accountability was unrealistic and counter-productive.〔 They were fearful of the repercussions if the war crimes issue was pursued aggressively but they hoped that the issue would be dealt with some time in the future.〔 Most Sri Lankan Tamil politicians were supportive of national reconciliation and ethnic cohesion.〔 They feared "political or even physical attack" if they raised the issue of accountability and were focusing "on more immediate economic and social concerns".〔 Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance, the largest political party representing the Tamils, did not want to raise the war crimes issue in Parliament because he feared retaliation.〔 Sampanthan believed it was important for the truth to be exposed but that the Tamils were "vulnerable" on the issue.〔 Pathmini Sithamparanathan, a TNA MP with close links to the Tamil Tigers, believed that the truth about what happened in the final months of the civil war would eventually come out but "now was not the time for war crimes-type investigations".〔 Mano Ganesan, leader of the Democratic People's Front, believed that "accountability was a divisive issue and the focus now had to be on uniting to rid the country of the Rajapaksas".〔 For many local Tamil politicians accountability was not an immediate concern, they were instead focused on "bread-and-butter issues" such as IDP releases, Sinhala colonistaion of traditional Tamil regions and re-developing the local economy.〔 The Boston Globe, later commented that "No foreign leader has fared worse in the cables released by WikiLeaks than Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa", regarding Butenis' implication of President Rajapaksa in the alleged war crimes. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Contents of the United States diplomatic cables leak (Sri Lanka)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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