Brown arrives

British Foreign Office Minister Malloch Brown arrived last night for talks on the situation in Sri Lanka. The Minister would be meeting a range of politicians from the government and the opposition, civil society organisations and community and religious leaders from across the island during his visit, the British High Commission said. “Lord Malloch Brown will use his visit to support the development of processes that contribute to a potential political settlement to the conflict. He will discuss the APRC's progress with the Government and the implementation of their interim recommendations,” it said.

The Minister would discuss the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, in particular ways of strengthening the mechanisms for monitoring and investigating allegations of human rights abuses, such as the Human Rights Commission and the Commission of Inquiry. The Minister would meet with representatives of the eastern provincial council and encourage implementation of the 13th Amendment to the constitution in the east as a step towards establishing a sustainable democracy there.