The US State Department’s senior-most official handling the Sri Lanka desk will arrive in Colombo on Tuesday on an overnight visit for meetings with Sri Lankan leaders. Nisha Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, will meet Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera first on Tuesday morning and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe thereafter followed [...]

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Biswal here on Tuesday ahead of UNHRC probe report

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The US State Department’s senior-most official handling the Sri Lanka desk will arrive in Colombo on Tuesday on an overnight visit for meetings with Sri Lankan leaders. Nisha Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, will meet Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera first on Tuesday morning and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe thereafter followed by calling on President Maithripala Sirisena.

Mr. Samaraweera is expected to be re-appointed Foreign Minister in time for the Biswal visit. The visit, originally scheduled for weeks earlier had been placed on hold on account of last Monday’s parliamentary elections. Its significance is that it comes on the eve of the UN Human Rights Council’s findings on the complicity of the then Sri Lankan Government and the Armed Forces in the conduct of the military campaign to defeat the LTTE in May 2009. It was following the US-led resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC that the Geneva based organisation is mandated to investigate.

A three-member UN probe team’s report is being presented to the UNHRC early next month. The new Sri Lankan Government is on record as saying that it will only permit a domestic inquiry into any adverse findings by the UN team. Government sources said yesterday that the Biswal visit was a follow-up to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Sri Lanka visit, during which he spoke of a ‘Partnership Dialogue’ between the two countries, encompassing areas of politics, trade, commerce and defence co-operation matters. Ms. Biswal, accompanied Secretary Kerry on his visit to Sri Lanka in May.

Early this week, a State Department spokesperson commended the conduct of free and fair elections in Sri Lanka.
The spokesperson said: “On Sri Lanka, the United States commends the Sri Lankan people and government for yesterday’s election, which demonstrated their enduring commitment to democracy and the rule of law. The United States applauds the Sri Lankan elections commissioner, Sri Lankan civil society, and the candidates themselves for holding free and fair elections that were widely hailed as among the most peaceful in Sri Lanka’s history. The United States looks forward to working with President Sirisena, the prime minister, and the new government.”

As with the visit of Secretary Kerry, no formal announcement has been made on the Biswal visit so far. On Friday, the new US Ambassador Atul Keshap presented credentials to President Maithripala Sirisena, just two days after his arrival in the country. The ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat was unusually fast-forwarded as the US was keen that Ambassador Keshap formalise his posting in Colombo prior to the Biswal visit, sources said.

Ambassador Keshap is a South Asia hand, his most recent posting being as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in Washington DC. Meanwhile, preparations are afoot for President Sirisena’s scheduled visit to the UN General Assembly next month.

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