US official visits former Tamil rebel stronghold in Sri Lanka

May 3, 2011, 13:36 GMT

Colombo - A top US diplomat Tuesday visited a former stronghold of Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka, after Colombo rejected a United Nations report on war crimes during the country's civil war, officials said.

Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state in charge of South and Central Asia, visited USAID projects and met with government officials to discuss progress in the resettlement of displaced persons in Mullativu district.

Mullativu was the last stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before they were defeated in May 2009 by government troops.

According to a report released by a UN panel last week, there were 'credible' allegations of war crimes committed in the last phase of the war, and that thousands of civilians were killed, many of them in government shelling of no-fire zones, where they were also used as human shields by the rebels.

The government rejected the report, and thousanddes protested in Sunday's May Day rallies against it.

Blake met with the TNA, the largest Tamil party, which is engaged in talks with the government on finding a political settlement to the Tamil minority ethnic crisis. Among the outstanding issues have been issues of devolution of powers to the northern and eastern parts of the country.

Blake is to meet with External Affairs Minister GL Peiris before he leaves on Wednesday.

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