Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met with the commanders of the country’s army, navy and air force, alongside Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, to discuss an ‘acceptable format’ for the domestic inquiry the government says it will conduct.
A senior official of the foreign ministry described the discussion last week as an ‘initiation’ and said the officials will reach an agreement on the best mechanism to be adopted to handle outstanding issues of accountability, which will again be scrutinised at the UN Human Rights Council later this month, The Sunday Observer reported.
The official further said, the news reports that the government has shared details of the domestic mechanism with the US, had no basis.
“What had been agreed with the US is to have a collaborative approach to the resolution that will be adopted at the September session,” the official said.
The US and UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussain previously urged the government to consult with the Tamil victims of the mass atrocities that occurred during the armed conflict, however no such consultation has yet been initiated.
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