Representatives of Tamil political parties and civil society and diaspora groups who met last weekend in Berlin will continue discussions in the coming months, the Global Tamil Forum said this week.

The full text of the statement on behalf of the participating organisations follows:

The Minister for Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Douglas Devananda, who is also leader of the paramilitary EPDP, has announced that he would resign from his ministerial position to contest the Northern Provincial Council Elections as a candidate for the Chief Minister position.

Authorities in Australia suspect a high level Sri Lankan government official of being personally "complicit" in the transfer of asylum seekers to Australia, reports The Australian.

The second phase of oil exploration in the Mannar basin will begin next month announced Cairn India.

The company said drilling would be brought forward from June to mid-February, due to early rig availability and excellent logistical preparations.

India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K Kantha told The Island that his country trains around 1,400 members of Sri Lanka’s security forces every year, the most it provides to any country.

Groups of Sinhala families were resettled in the district of Mullaitivu, amid protest from local inhabitants, reported Lankasri News. 

See below for extracts from a speech made by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State James Moore at a press event in Colombo.

Click here for complete statement in English, Tamil and Sinhala.

The United States has a long friendship with Sri Lanka dating back to its independence. We value this multifaceted relationship and our visit has been undertaken in this spirit.

We [...] have had constructive and candid meetings with the Sri Lankan government, military, political parties, and civil society in both Colombo and Jaffna. Our goal has been to hear from many different voices throughout Sri Lanka. We have met with Secretary of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and military commanders [...].

Responding to the prospect of another resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Sri Lankan government said that they had already made "substantial progress".

The country's Foreign Secretary Karunathilaka Amunugama said on Tuesday:

A Sri Lankan government Minister has accused the visiting United States State Department Deputy Assistant Secretaries, of being spies.