Monday, October 31, 2011

TNA Discusses Tamil Issues With US Officials


Robert O. Blake and Mahinda Samarasinghe
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has had talks with US State department officials on the situation in Sri Lanka, TNA sources said.
A delegation from the TNA which is in the US on an invitation extended by US Under Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, had talks with US officials on Wednesday.
TNA sources in Colombo said that the delegation was due to meet Blake on Thursday and discuss issues concerning Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The TNA was also scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the US visit.
The TNA delegation was expected to brief US officials on talks held so far between the TNA and the Sri Lankan government.
Meanwhile Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe also had talks with the UN Secretary General in New York last week and discussed the developments in the country.
During the meeting with Samarasinghe, the UN Secretary General had stressed on the need for Sri Lanka to show accountability for some of the incidents which took place during the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka.
The release of the report of Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) scheduled for next month was also discussed.