Sri Lanka to recall peacekeeping commander on UN request

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka's military said that it will recall its commander leading a U.N. peacekeeping contingent in Mali after the world body asked him to be repatriated over his human rights background.

Military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said Saturday that it will comply with the U.N. request even though it doesn't believe Col. Kalana Amunupure is guilty of any human rights abuses in the last stages of Sri Lanka's civil war.

"There may be allegations. But he has not done anything wrong. He has not committed any war crimes. We will appeal and send him back," Atapattu said.

A report in The Guardian newspaper in July quoted a confidential report that claimed the Sri Lanka commander in Mali, who was not named in the report, is alleged to have committed war crimes during the civil war, which ended in 2009. It said the report was produced by the South-Africa based International Truth and Justice Project, and also cited other Sri Lankans taking part in U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The Sri Lanka Army called the deployment to Mali "one more feather in its cap" when it was set to start sending the 200-strong Combat Convoy Company to serve in the U.N. peacekeeping mission last November. It said Sri Lankan troops were also participating in other U.N. peacekeeping missions including in Lebanon and South Sudan.

Both Sri Lankan government soldiers and the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels were accused of war crimes during the country's 26-year civil war.

Tens of thousands of people were reported to have been killed in just the final months of the fighting.

https://www. foxnews.com/world/sri-lanka-to-recall-peacekeeping-commander-on-un-request

Tropical Storms Willa, Vicente take aim at Mexican Pacific coast

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Willa gained strength on Saturday in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico and is forecast to become a hurricane by Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The storm was about 280 miles (451 km) southwest of the major port of Manzanillo, and had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (97 kph). It is likely to reach the coast of western Mexico by Wednesday before it accelerates toward the northeast, the NHC said

Another tropical storm, Vicente, formed in the Pacific off southern Mexico on Saturday, churning toward the coast but was only expected to strengthen slightly over the next couple of days,

Vicente was about 125 miles (201 km) southeast of the port of Salina Cruz, where a major refinery owned by national oil company Pemex is located, with maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour (80 kph).

The storm was moving at about 9 miles per hour (14 kph) toward the west and expected to turn northwest early next week and make landfall near the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacan as early as Tuesday.

https:// ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN1MU0XQ-OCATP