Sri Lanka, which remains of strategic interest to the U.S as it is positioned directly on the shipping routes that carry petroleum products and other trade from the Gulf to East Asia, is an important contributor to global peacekeeping operations, the US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said.
Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, Blake said Sri Lanka stands poised to be a capable and willing partner to effectively combat violent extremism, trafficking and piracy, and thereby help to ensure the maritime security of the region.
" But the Government’s worrisome record on human rights, weakening of democratic institutions and practices, and the way in which it conducted the final months of its conflict against the Tamil Tigers hamper our ability to fully engage", he said.
He said : "The United States welcomed Sri Lanka’s establishment of their Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and its implementing body – the Inter Agency Advisory Committee. Sri Lanka also has taken some steps forward on reconciliation such as resettling the vast majority of the nearly 300,000 internally displaced persons at the end of the conflict, demining 5 million square meters, reducing the reach of High Security Zones, and hiring 335 Tamil-speaking police, and beginning a dialogue with the Tamil National Alliance but more needs to be done. We have urged Sri Lanka to take credible and meaningful steps towards accountability and have warned that a failure to do so is likely to generate pressure for an international commission.
Our assistance programs aim to increase post-conflict stability in the North of Sri Lanka by promoting reconciliation, enhancing local governance, building civil society capacity, increasing economic opportunities to those affected by conflict, and assisting the continued resettlement and reintegration of displaced persons.”