Sri Lanka FM to meet Clinton after UN vote

Sri Lanka's foreign minister said on Monday he would meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the adoption of a UN resolution pushing Colombo to properly investigate war crimes allegations.

Sri Lanka has angrily rejected the resolution tabled by the United States and passed last week by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris, who had turned down an invitation to meet Clinton before the Council vote, said he planned to hold talks with her in Washington in mid-May.

"We will continue to engage with the UNHRC, our bilateral partners like the US, as we have been doing in the past," Peiris told reporters in Colombo.

"However, any element of pressure will be resisted," he added.

Rights groups have said that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the Sri Lankan military's final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

The resolution adopted in Geneva urged Sri Lanka to probe war crimes charges, implement the recommendations of a domestic inquiry into the war and seek UN help for reconciliation efforts with the minority ethnic Tamil community.

The government in Colombo condemned the resolution as an attempt to interfere in the country's internal affairs.

"We oppose it. It internationalises Sri Lanka's situation. It takes away the sovereign rights of the people," Peiris said.

"There will be no duress, no coercion of any kind. It's a non-binding resolution. There are no economic sanctions," he added.

Tabling the resolution in Geneva, the United States said Colombo had been given three years to hold its own probe into war crimes, but "given the lack of action... it is appropriate" that the 47-member UNHRC pushed it to do so.
 

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