09/13/2011
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AFP, Agence France-Presse
US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake toured Sri Lanka's former war zone on Tuesday to meet students, community leaders and government officials two years after the island's civil war ended.
09/13/2011
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TruthDive
Colombo, Sep 13 (TruthDive): US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert O Blake’s efforts to meet student representatives of Jaffna university to hear first hand account of human rights violation were blocked by supporters of Rajapakse – the EPDP paramilitary cum political party. Police were mere spectators. Geneva indicated that Sri Lanka’s war crimes report produced by Ban appointed UN panel of experts has been submitted to the UN’s Human Rights Commission. The placards displayed by EPDP supporters asked Blake as to how much dollars he paid or vodka he gifted to get the information from people he met.
08/19/2011
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Colombo Page
Sri Lanka : Overseas members of Sri Lanka\'s terrorist group LTTE continued to procure weapons in 2010- US report (Sri Lanka - latest news stories and top headlines)
08/08/2011
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State Department, U.S. State Department
MR. TONER: I’m – no, I’m not aware of it. I’ll have to take the question.
Go ahead, Tejinder.
QUESTION: The defense secretary of Sri Lanka, Rajapaska, in an interview with headlines today, has rejected calls by the UN, U.S., and other international communities calling for war crimes investigation. He said actually, how can an international mechanism kick in? He says we have done nothing wrong. So what is the reaction of the U.S. and the ongoing UN efforts on this?
MR. TONER: Well, we continue to call on a transparent accounting of Sri Lanka’s actions, and we believe the UN panel of experts is a mechanism that should be taken advantage of in order to carry out that kind of examination and accounting. I’m aware that Sri Lanka has also conducted some reporting on human rights abuses, alleged human rights abuses, but we still believe that an international mechanism to look at these is in everyone’s interest.
QUESTION: He – however, but he redefined the international community. He says these are not the international community; Russia, China, Africa, Middle East, and Southeast Asia is the international community, and they are supporting us. So –
MR. TONER: Again, I’ll have to look at his remarks in greater detail, but broadly put, that’s our position.
05/04/2011
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RTT News
The United States has called upon Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapakse government to investigate alleged war crimes committed by its troops during the final few months of Sri Lanka's 25-year long war against Tamil Tiger rebels(LTTE), reports said.
05/02/2011
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Colombo Page
Sri Lanka : US to discuss a range of issues with Sri Lanka, not just the UN report
04/08/2011
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The Island
Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia Robert O. Blake says in a letter to The Island in response to our recent reports on his meetings with members of the Global Tamil Forum etc that the US does not support separatism and he has never met individuals or organisations that espouse terror or violence.
03/04/2011
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State Department
We recently traveled to Jaffna with Ambassador Patricia Butenis, USAID Director Jim Bednar, and other Embassy staff for the opening of our new American Corner on January 24. We flew up in a 17-seat turbo-prop plane at a low altitude, giving us an aerial view of the island and of the recent flooding.
12/01/2010
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Foreign Policy
Are we surprised to learn, via WikiLeaks, that American diplomats in Colombo blame Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his top officials for the massacre of tens of thousands (by most estimates) of Tamil civilians during the final months of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war? The goods are in a Jan. 15 cable sent by U.S. Amb. Patricia A. Butenis on the eve of Sri Lanka's presidential elections (which Rajapaksa won handily). Butenis was assessing the country's ability to come to terms with the atrocities committed in the protracted conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers rebel group, which was defeated in May 2009 after nearly three decades of fighting.
09/13/2010
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ColomboPage
Sept 13, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government today, responding to the concerns expressed by the United States on the just passed constitutional reforms, said the passage of 18th Amendment to Sri Lanka's Constitution last week in the parliament with a two-third majority is an entirely internal matter.