US backs UN in Sri Lanka war crimes dispute

The United States on Tuesday stood behind UN chief Ban Ki-moon and his advisory panel on war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka, where protesters including a cabinet minister surrounded the UN office.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the United States supported "people's right to free expression" but also sought a "robust accountability process" to help the island reconcile after decades of war.

  "To that end, we welcome UN Secretary (General) Ban's announcement of a panel of experts to provide advice on relevant best practices for investigations into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law," Toner said.

Protesters, who included Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, shouted anti-UN slogans outside the UN office in Colombo, preventing staff from leaving for seven hours, according to witnesses.

Ban last month named a UN panel, headed by Marzuki Darusman, a former Indonesian attorney general, to advise on "accountability issues" during the war between government forces and the Tamil Tiger separatists.

The Sri Lankan government has refused to cooperate with the panel, which some see as a precursor to a full-blown war crimes investigation.

The Tiger guerrillas were defeated after decades of conflict in May 2009, and the UN has said that at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the first four months of last year.

The United States and other Western nations criticized Sri Lanka over its rights record in the final stages of the conflict. But Washington's relations with the island have since improved.