U.S. to work with Sri Lanka on U.N. resolution addressing alleged war crimes

Reuters

Published Aug 26, 2015 06:23AM ET

U.S. to work with Sri Lanka on U.N. resolution addressing alleged war crimes

By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it would work together with Sri Lanka's new government to propose a resolution to a U.N. human rights forum that seeks to come to terms with the painful legacy of a 26-year civil war.

Washington will move the resolution, to address responsibility for alleged human rights abuses and propose a framework for reconciliation, at next month's U.N. Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

"We have recognized that there is a different opportunity that exists today and a different landscape for trying to advance reconciliation," Nisha Biswal, U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, told reporters in Colombo. "We look forward to a process in Geneva that allows an opportunity to reflect on that."

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who led Sri Lanka in the final years of the Tamil insurgency, lost a presidential election in January and failed in his bid to come back as prime minister in the Aug. 17 polls.

The election strengthened President Maithripala Sirisena, a reformist leader who has taken steps to reconcile Sri Lankan Tamils with majority Sinhala speakers, many of whom still regard Rajapaksa as a national hero.

Biswal said the thrust of the resolution would be decided after reviewing the findings of a UN investigation into war crimes alleged to have been committed in the final phase of the civil war that ended in May 2009.