The South African Tamil Federation congratulated the Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan on being appointed leader of the opposition in Sri Lanka, stating that he was now in a position to “ensure that justice prevails”.

In a congratulatory message to the TNA leader, the SATF said that having had “robust and sometimes very candid” meetings with Mr Sampanthan, it could “safely say he is a matured intelligent politician who can get some resolution on the National Question for the Tamil speaking people”.

“Mr Sampanthan is also well placed now, to interrogate the UNHRC report, on the atrocities that took place in Sri Lanka, and ensure that justice prevails for the people that was killed in the 2009,” added the statement.

The SATF which represents 650,000 Tamil speaking people in South Africa and has Provincial Structures in 8 Provinces of South Africa, continued to say it “wishes Mr Sampanthan well in his new role as the official opposition leader in the Sri Lankan Parliament”.

The signature campaign, calling for an international accountability mechanism to provide justice for the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians killed during the final stages of the armed conflict has continued at the University of Jaffna on Thursday.

President Maithripala Sirisena has selected the leader of the Sinhala hard line JHU to represent him in the new government’s Constitutional Council.

Patali Champika Ranawaka, whose JHU plays an instrumental part in the UNP-led ruling coalition, will serve on the council which is responsible for establishing independent commissions.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe nominated Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, who is also the minister for Buddhist affairs, to the council.

The United States’ reported backing for a domestic process of accountability with ‘international technical assistance’ perverts international justice said exiled Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam on Tuesday.

Writing in the Asian Correspondent, Mr Tissainayagam said:

“the U.S. and the international community are misguided in believing that the two elections and a national government have brought about enduring change that merits Washington to collaborate with Colombo on the forthcoming resolution at the UNHRC. This is because despite regime change there is little evidence that the new government has either the capacity or the political will to domestically investigate, try and punish perpetrators of international crimes.”

He went on detail the inadequacy in “important institutions of state that will be vital in determining if the process of accountability effectively delivers justice to the victims”.

“Even as he campaigned for the presidency, Sirisena, who has admitted being acting minister of defence “when most of the LTTE leaders were killed,” was insistent that Rajapakse and the military leaders implicated in mass atrocities against Tamils would not be brought before an international tribunal for war crimes,” said Mr Tissainayagam, adding, “Installed in power, the Sirisena government intervened directly to protect the status of those in the military implicated in war crimes”.

The journalist also stated that Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe “has been no less emphatic in expressing similar reservations on an international investigation”.

A signature campaign calling for an international accountability mechanism to provide justice for the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians killed during the final stages of the armed conflict has continued in Kilinochchi town on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of signatures have been collected across the North-East to date by the campaign - organised by the Tamil Action Committee for International Accountability Mechanism (TACIAM).

The National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation says there are still 43 refugee camps in the Jaffna district.

At a press conference in Colombo, the organisations convener Herman Kumara denied the government’s claim that there were 36 refugee camps, quoting local activists who report that 43 camps remain.

Mr Kumara said despite the end of the armed conflict 6 years ago, internally displaced people were still not resettled on their own land and demanded assistance from the government for resettlement programmes, especially for female-headed households.

The Mannar Citizen's Committee said that a signature campaign calling for an international inquiry into mass atrocities committed against the Tamil people at the end of the armed conflict would take place in Mannar on Thursday, following on from a series of similar campaigns that have been held in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Kilinochchi so far.

The campaign in Mannar would be held in conjunction with the Provincial Association of Families of the Disappeared.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Rev Fr Emmanuel Sepamalai said that an international inquiry was needed as they had no hope of finding truth through an internal investigation.