UN ‘war crimes witness’ expelled - report
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details to the international community of mass killings of civilians
during the final battles against the Tamil Tigers, The Guardian
newspaper in Britain reported Saturday. Peter Mackay, an Australian
citizen, was given two weeks to leave the country for providing
detailed rebuttals of Sri Lankan government’s "wartime propaganda."
The diplomat is seen as a legal timebomb by the Sri Lankan government
as he could personally take the stand and testify that the army
shelled non-combatants – action considered to be a war crime under
international law, the paper said.
News of Mackay’s expulsion comes days after the UN chief, Ban Ki-Moon,
denounced Sri Lanka's decision to expel Unicef's communications
officer, James Elder, spoken out on child casualties and malnutrition
rates during the fighting.
Elder, like Mackay, has criticised the inadequate provisions for war
refugees once the battles were over.
“Mackay, a field operative who worked for Unops – the technical arm of
the UN – was a less familiar face to the media. But he played a key
role in keeping the outside world informed about the number of
civilians killed in the final months of the war – deaths that Sri
Lanka was keen to play down,” The Guardian reported.
Mackay collected high-resolution satellite images showing that the
number of people trapped on beaches where the Tigers made their last
stand was far higher than that claimed by the government.
The data showed that not only were more people in danger than the
government admitted, but that the food and medicine sent to the "no
fire zone" were inadequate.
Mackay was also in touch with local staff and put together briefings,
using eyewitness reports of the war, which led the UN to warn of a
"bloodbath" in the final weeks of fighting.
Mackay's experience and knowledge of LTTE-held territory made him the
ideal UN candidate to record how the war was being fought, the paper
said.
“He was stranded behind Tamil Tiger lines on a mission to rescue 100
local staff and their families and was repeatedly bombed for 10 days
in January, despite desperate calls to army commanders by his
superiors imploring them to stop firing,” the paper reported.
His presence, however, attracted the attention of Sri Lanka's
military. In a letter sent in late July, the authorities gave him two
weeks to pack up, saying that his "adverse activities had come to the
notice of the intelligence services".
A senior UN source confirmed that Mackay had been asked to leave,
adding that "the issue was taken up through diplomatic channels with
the government, but their decision remained unchanged".