海角大神

's human rights record was glaringly absent from a communique issued by听听leaders on Sunday at the end of a fractious summit dominated by allegations of war crimes during the bloody climax of the island's 26-year civil war.

The normally sedate two-yearly meeting of mostly former British colonies ran into controversy this year before it had even begun after some members objected to it being hosted by a government accused of shelling civilians just four years ago.

Sparks flew at the summit when British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to push for an international inquiry into the allegations of large-scale civilian deaths during the听's final victory over the Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009.

Some 300,000 civilians were trapped on a narrow beach during the onslaught and a British panel has estimated that 40,000 non-combatants died. It concluded that, while both sides committed atrocities,听听shelling killed most victims.

听has also been criticised for not stopping attacks on journalists and critics of the government, as well as political pressure on magistrates, since the war ended.

Cameron said he would raise the issues at the听听if听听did not conduct its own independent inquiry by March.

The ultimatum was dubbed "hostile diplomacy" by听Sri听Lankan state media. Some detected colonial overtones in the finger-wagging and accused Britain of acting like a "big brother that punishes rather than guides".

"I will do it. But you can't say, 'Tomorrow, do it, within one week, or three months, or four months'. That's very unfair," Rajapaksa told the final news conference on Sunday.听

VISIT TO听

Cameron left Colombo on Saturday, and the final communique mentioned human rights in only a general way. The official focus of the summit was on "Growth with Equity".

Ethnic Tamils were overjoyed that a visit by Cameron to the northern town of听听drew attention to a continued military presence in the former war zone and continuing attacks on journalists.

听issued visas to hundreds of foreign journalists before the summit, and invited them to visit any part of the country to witness progress on post-war reconstruction. However, pro-government protesters stopped reporters from Britain's Channel 4, which has run a series of documentaries alleging atrocities and war crimes, travelling to the north.

Other reporters, including some from Reuters, were able to travel but were held up at numerous military checkpoints and were closely tracked by military intelligence.

The rights dispute dominated the chaotic final news conference, where听听spokesman听repeatedly tried to put the focus on the summit's development agenda.

"I can see I am being consistently ignored," he said, after yet another question about rights abuses was addressed to Rajapaksa.

A senior journalist from听Sri听Lankan state media yelled at Uko and accused him of a "sinister conspiracy" to take questions only from foreign critics of the government.

The prime ministers of听听and听听boycotted the summit, and听听also stayed away. The next meeting will be held in听听in 2015.