Buhne, Blake arrive in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 July 2010, 18:04 GMT]
Neil Buhne, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sri Lanka arrived early Tuesday morning. Later in evening he met External Affairs Minister G.L Peiris, according to External Affairs ministry sources. Robert O. Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, also arrived in Sri Lanka Tuesday evening .

Buhne was expected to hand over a message to the Sri Lankan government from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon which includes expectations for the better treatment of the UN family in Sri Lanka, as well as for progress on the range of commitments covered in the joint statement of May 2009 including resettlement of internally displaced persons, political reconciliation and accountability.

In Sri Lanka, Assistant Secretary Blake will have consultations with the Sri Lankan government, political parties, business leaders and civil society.

He will be also travelling to Male, Maldives on Thursday.

This is his first visit to the Maldives after he assumed as US Assistant Secretary of State in the US government.