Rudd promises comment on Sri Lanka report

24 Nov 2011

AAP

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has promised to comment on a Sri Lankan government report into the civil war when it is made public.

The probe into the civil war against Tamil rebels has called for further investigations of alleged war crimes committed in the final stages of fighting in 2009, media reports say.

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which has been widely criticised as biased by international rights groups, concluded that some evidence warranted a new inquiry.

The commission handed over the report to President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday but it is not clear when exactly it will be made public.

Mr Rudd told a foreign policy dinner in Sydney the Australian government would comment once the report was publicly released.

"The report that's been delivered to the Sri Lankan president, I'm looking for guidance on whether the contents of the report has been publicly distributed," he told the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Mr Rudd said he had told the Sri Lankan Minister of External Affairs G.L. Peiris and Mr Rajapakse of his intention to release an Australian response when he met them at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth.

"That's what I said to the Sri Lankan foreign minister and also the president of Sri Lanka at CHOGM," Mr Rudd said.