International patience could wear thin with Sri Lanka unless it takes action to address allegations of atrocities during the island nation’s civil war, the top U.S. diplomat for South Asia said.
Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal stopped short of endorsing a deadline set last month by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he would call for a U.N.-backed inquiry into allegations of war crimes unless there was progress on postwar reconciliation by March.
Biswal urged Sri Lanka to take concrete steps on its own, particularly on issues of accountability.
“We would like to see Sri Lanka address these issues through its own processes, and we hope that can in fact be the case,” Biswal told reporters, adding that recommendations of a Sri Lankan-government appointed reconciliation commission pointed the way forward.
She said without real progress the patience of the international community “will start to wear thin,” AP reports.
