A top Obama administration official will travel to Sri Lanka next week, days after the US warned Colombo that an international inquiry could be launched against it if it did not take adequate steps for a credible probe into charges of humanitarian crimes during the LTTE war.
Robert Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, will visit Sri Lanka from August 29-31, an official announcement said here today.
"He will meet with government officials, civil society representatives, university students and political leaders while in Sri Lanka," the State Department said.
The announcement follows State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland's remarks earlier this month that the US would like the Sri Lankan government "to establish the kind of accountable system that its people can have confidence in."
"If that does not happen and does not happen expeditiously, then we reserve the right to discuss international mechanisms," Nuland had said.
A UN panel had also called for setting up of an "independent international mechanism" into what it called "credible" allegations that Sri Lankan military committed war crimes in its final decisive offensive against LTTE rebels in 2009.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has dismissed the charges as "unsubstantiated".
PTI
