US Ambassador Samantha Power praised the Sri Lankan president’s pledges to reduce his presidential powers as “striking” in an address to the UN Security Council this week.
Speaking on what Ambassador Power called “this desire to extend one’s term or to ignore term limits” in parts of Africa, she drew on her recent visit to Sri Lanka and the North-East of the island.
“I was just in Sri Lanka, in addition to visiting India, and it was so completely striking to hear from the Sri Lankan President a series of steps that he’s seeking to take to shrink his power and to actually restore the checks and balances that had existed,” said Ms Power.
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Ms Power met with President Sirisena during her visit to the island where she discussed the issues of resettling IDPs and releasing military held land in the North. Concluding her trip the ambassador flagged up the need to reduce the size of the military presence in the North-East as a key issue.
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