Sri Lankan minister continues hunger strike over UN probe after world body closes office

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Sri Lankan Cabinet minister continued a hunger strike for a second day Friday to demand the U.N. halt its investigation into alleged wartime abuses, despite the world body's decision to recall its top Colombo-based official and shut its regional office.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon again called on the Sri Lankan government "to take urgent action to normalize conditions" around the U.N. offices, U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The protest is seen as a reaction to Ban's appointment of a panel of experts to assess how well Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has followed up on commitments to reconciliation and human rights accountability that were made when the secretary-general visited in May 2009.

Ban believes the protest "is not warranted," Haq said.

Haq also said the panel's mandate does not include the investigation of individual allegations of misconduct. But he said it will advise the government on international standards and best practices to ensure accountability and protect human rights.

Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa remained inside a hut outside the U.N.'s main office, a day after beginning what he called a fast until death to protest the probe into the conduct of the final bloody months of Sri Lanka's civil war.

"His condition is deteriorating, but he is determined," a spokesman, Wasantha Bandara, told reporters.

The U.S. and a group of European nations expressed dismay Friday over an earlier blockade of the U.N. office led by Weerawansa which trapped its staff for several hours.

In a joint statement, they called the action a "breach of international norms and harmful to Sri Lanka's reputation in the world."

Hundreds of people participated in the protest Tuesday. Protesters held a much smaller sit-in Wednesday and U.N. employees were able to keep working in the office or from home.

In an apparent bid to deflect criticism of the government, Weerawansa announced Friday he was resigning from the Cabinet. But party spokesman Jayantha Samaraweera said President Mahinda Rajapaksa declined to accept the resignation.

Weerawansa wants Ban to dissolve the panel he appointed last month to advise him on alleged human rights abuses committed as Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war was ending last year.

The U.N. has said the panel's work will continue.

On Thursday, Ban recalled Neil Buhne, the U.N.'s resident coordinator for Sri Lanka, and decided to close the U.N. Development Program's regional center in Colombo, which houses U.N. agencies that operate in Sri Lanka and coordinates U.N. development programs in 37 nations in Asia and the Pacific region.

Ban found it "unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the disruption of the normal functioning of the United Nations offices in Colombo as a result of unruly protests organized and led by a Cabinet minister of the government," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The world body has estimated that more than 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the last five months of the fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. Human rights groups accused both sides of deliberately targeting civilians.