Tamil reconciliation will take time, warns US

AFP, COLOMBO: The US warned Sri Lanka on Tuesday that reconciliation with ethnic Tamils after the island's separatist war will not be easy, as it praised the new reformist government elected last week.
Two senior US diplomats pledged to work with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government during a visit to the island in the wake of the August 17 general election.
"We recognise that this process is going to take time. Nobody expects miracles," US assistant secretary of state for human rights Tom Malinowski told reporters after talks with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.
But Malinowski said the results of the vote, along with January's presidential poll that swept strongman Mahinda Rajapakse from power, showed Sri Lankans were against "politics of ethnic and religious divisions, against extremism on both sides."
Washington had an uneasy relationship with Rajapakse, who defied US pressure to investigate cases of thousands of mainly Tamils who went missing in the final stages of the brutal conflict in 2009.

Tamil reconciliation will take time, warns US

AFP, COLOMBO: The US warned Sri Lanka on Tuesday that reconciliation with ethnic Tamils after the islands separatist war will not be easy, as it praised the new reformist government elected last week. Two senior US diplomats pledged to work with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghes government during a visit to the island in the wake of the August 17 general election. We recognise that this process is going to take time. Nobody expects miracles, US assistant secretary of state for human rights Tom Malinowski told reporters after talks with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. But Malinowski said the results of the vote, along with Januarys presidential poll that swept strongman Mahinda Rajapakse from power, showed Sri Lankans were against politics of ethnic and religious divisions, against extremism on both sides. Washington had an uneasy relationship with Rajapakse, who defied US pressure to investigate cases of thousands of mainly Tamils who went missing in the final stages of the brutal conflict in 2009.