In a briefing with the press, US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland has stated that the US has “concerns” over Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission and alleged that there were “gaps” in the report.

Speaking on Monday, Nuland told reporters,

“While we’re still studying the full report, I do have to say that we have concerns that the report, nonetheless, does not fully address all the allegations of serious human rights violations that occurred in the final phase of the conflict.

So this leaves questions about accountability and – for those allegations, and so we urge the Sri Lankan Government not only to fulfill all of the recommendations of the report as it stands, but also to address those issues that the report did not cover.”

When asked if she felt it was time for an independent international investigation into allegations of war crimes,  Nuland replied,

"Well, obviously, we’ve long said that it is better for Sri Lankans to take these issues themselves and address them fully. That remains our position, so now we want to see if the Sri Lankan Government will lead their country in the next step to ensure that there is full implementation of the recommendations that we have and filling in of the gaps.

So let’s see what they are willing to do going forward."

Commenting that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake had already contacted members of the Sri Lankan Government, Nuland went on to say,

"I’d also say that we’ve seen the government’s preliminary action plan, but we don’t think it really provides the kind of detailed roadmap that we had hoped to see for fulfilling all of the Commission’s recommendations. So those are the things that we are, in our private conversation, urging them to continue to work on, implementation of the recommendations in the report, and addressing those gaps that the report left."

See our earlier post:

US has 'high expectations' for LLRC (Nov 2011)