斯里蘭卡總統呼籲民族和解大綱

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena pledged Wednesday to pursue national reconciliation in a country still divided by a decades-long civil war that ended nearly six years ago.

He spoke in Colombo at an Independence Day ceremony that paid respect to all those killed in the 26-year war that pitted government forces against rebels seeking an independent state for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.

"The biggest challenge today is to unite the hearts of the people of the north and south through a national reconciliation process," Mr. Sirisena said.

The president was elected last month, defeating former leader Mahinda Rajapaska, whose government rejected an international investigation into allegations of possible war crimes during the conflict.

Government troops killed as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians during the offensive that ended the war in 2009, according to a United Nations report. The U.N. has said the total death toll during the war could be as high as 100,000 people.斯里蘭卡總統西里塞納星期三承諾奉行民族和解政策。斯里蘭卡近六年前結束了幾十年的內戰，但國家仍因內戰而存在分歧。

西里塞納在科倫坡舉行的獨立日慶典上發表了講話。獨立日慶典對在26年內戰的喪生者表示哀悼。泰米爾少數民族在內戰中跟政府軍作戰尋求獨立。

西里塞納說：“目前最大的挑戰是通過民族和解進程使南北部民衆團結一心。”

西里塞納上個月擊敗前領導人拉賈帕克薩當選總統。拉賈帕克薩政府拒絕讓國際社會對內戰中可能犯下的戰爭罪進行調查。

聯合國的一份報告說，斯里蘭卡政府軍在2009年結束對泰米爾武裝攻勢時，打死了4萬泰米爾族平民。聯合國說，斯里蘭卡內戰的死亡人數多達10萬人。