[AP]

Sri Lanka summoned the U.S. ambassador on Friday to protest the latest U.S. State Department report on human rights, saying it presented a distorted and exaggerated view of the situation on the Indian Ocean island. The State Department’s 2007 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Sri Lanka cited government abuses including unlawful killings, abductions, arbitrary arrests and the denial of fair public trials. “The government’s respect for human rights continued to decline due in part to the escalation of the armed conflict,” the report said, referring to hostilities between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.

[Full Story]

[BBC]

The United States does not believe that free & fair elections can be held in Batticaloa if one party is allowed to bear arms says the US Ambassador for Sri Lanka, Robert O Blake. If one party is allowed arms and threaten and intimidate other parties and other contestants free and fair elections can not be held, said the US Ambassador addressing a public function held in Batticaloa on Wednesday. The US Ambassador said,” Unchecked illegal paramilitary activity also discourages the prime investment that is badly needed to help the reconstruction process in the east”.

[Full Story]