Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena has denied that foreign judges will be allowed to prtake in any accountability mechanism, the second time he has done so in two days.

The president slammed sections of the Sinhala press for reporting that the accountability mechanism would include foreign participation, Ceylonews reported.

The Sri Lankan army said there was no reduction in security in Jaffna with the number of troops and army camps remaining the same.

"there has not been any reduction in the number of camps or the troops and the Army Camps are maintained in the required locations for the safety of the public," the Colombo Page quoted the Jaffna commander, Major General Mahesh Senanayake as saying.

"The recent hand over of lands does not mean giving up camps", Major General Senanayake said.

The Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena has postponed his visit on Sunday to the opening ceremony of the a hotel in Pasikuda, Batticaloa, after the murder of a Tamil man near the hotel by a Sinhala mob, the Sunday Times reported.

Fifty-one year old Thambipillai Thangarasa was attacked in Kalkudah on Thursday as he was returning home from the grocery store. A group of Sinhalese men, reported to be under the influence of alcohol, attacked him after an argument broke out, leaving him with fatal head injuries.

Sri Lanka’s ‘Joint Opposition’ has announced that they intend to table a motion of no-confidence against the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera, reports Adaderena.lk.

The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Udaya Gammapila said Sri Lanka’s foreign minister was contradicting President Maithripala Sirisena who is clearly stating no foreign judges will be involved in a justice mechanism.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal will be visiting Sri Lanka next week.

Ms Biswal, who will be accompanied by her deputy Manpreet Anand, will travel to Colombo where she will meet with senior government officials, political leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss bilateral economic cooperation as well as democratic governance and reconciliation, according to the State Department.

Tamil families in the North-East remember those that perished in the bombing by Sri Lanka's armed forces

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday reiterated that there will be no foreign judges in an accountability mechanism reports Ceylonews.

Addressing a Buddhist religious event in Panadura in the presence of Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mr Sirisena said,

“As long as I am President I will not allow foreigners or organisations to interfere in the internal affairs. I will not give room for any foreign organisation to mount pressure on our judiciary or meddle with internal affairs.”

The International Truth and Justice Project  (ITJP) welcomed media reports that Sri Lanka’s cabinet had recognised that  “exiled victims and witnesses have a key role in terrifying to the country’s future transitional justice mechanisms” adding concerns that Sri Lanka had not addressed “genuine concerns of witnesses and victims abroad who fear reprisals either against themselves or their families in Sri Lanka.”