US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday ended a visit to Sri Lanka after pledging support for minority Tamils following decades of ethnic war, a local Tamil politician said.
Kerry met heads of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main political party from the ethnic minority, a day after holding talks with new Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
“He [Kerry] said he will do his best to support us to resolve outstanding issues,” TNA lawmaker Suresh Premachandran told reporters after their 30-minute meeting at Kerry’s hotel in Colombo.
“They [the US] will also keep pushing for reconciliation, justice and accountability,” he added, referring to alleged war crimes committed by government forces in the final stages of the conflict that ended in May 2009.
On Saturday, Kerry, whose presence in Colombo marked the island’s return to the diplomatic fold, heaped praise on the new Sirisena administration, who toppled strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in January elections.
The diplomat pledged support to ensure “true reconciliation” in Sri Lanka six years after the end of its 37-year Tamil separatist war, which claimed at least 100,000 lives.
He echoed a long-standing Tamil demand to investigate the cases of thousands who went missing toward the end of the conflict.
“Try to find wherever the truth may lead. No matter how painful that truth is,” Kerry said. “It’s the right and the humane thing to do — and it is, believe it or not, an essential part of the healing process.”
The Sirisena administration has promised to investigate allegations that up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by troops under Rajapaksa’s command.
Kerry has promised technical assistance for any probe and also urged Sirisena to free hundreds of Tamils who are still being held without any charges against them.
During Rajapaksa’s decade-long rule, Washington was close to imposing sanctions on Colombo for refusing to allow investigations into claims of mass killings and rights abuses at the end of the war with the separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas.
As Sri Lanka’s relations with the West and regional powerhouse India soured, Rajapaksa turned increasingly to Beijing, with Chinese-funded investment projects springing up across the nation.
Since coming to power, Sirisena has tried to reset the diplomatic balance, choosing India for his first foreign visit and offering the hand of friendship to other key players, who fell out of favor with his predecessor.
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