Top U.S. officials arrive in Sri Lanka for discussions on Tamil question

Two high ranking officials of the United States Department of State arrived in Sri Lanka today to hold discussions on the government's progress on reaching a political solution and addressing accountability issues. United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake and State Department's Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Maria Otero arrived in Colombo today for a two-day visit ahead of the United Nations Human Right Council sessions in Geneva later this month.
They are expected to meet with the leaders of Sri Lanka's main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lankan President and senior government officials. Assistant Secretary Blake is scheduled to meet with the Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris on Monday, February 13th, according to Ministry sources. Under Secretary Otero and Assistant Secretary Blake will also meet with civil society representatives, youth groups, and political leaders, a State Department statement said. The U.S. officials' visit ahead of the UNHRC session is viewed as a crucial step by the US government in its preparation to support a UNHRC resolution that will ask Sri Lanka to take more concrete actions towards reconciliation and especially, addressing the accountability issue and implementing the recommendations put forward by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). The 19th session of the UNHRC will be held from February 27 - March 23. Human rights groups and several western nations have pushed for the UNHRC to bring a resolution against Sri Lanka based on the report of the Expert Panel appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to investigate Sri Lanka's accountability in the final phase of the armed offensive against the Tamil Tiger terrorists. The panel had found credible evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan, some of which could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The government appointed its own panel LLRC to probe the war and produce a report which was released to public last December. The report has recommended several measures for the government to implement to achieve a lasting solution for the ethnic issue and true reconciliation. However, the U.S. said it was concerned that the LLRC report does not fully address all the allegations of serious human rights violations that occurred in the final phase of the conflict.