The Maldives today reaffirmed its commitment to support Sri Lanka in the international forum, reports ColomboPage.

The Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs, on her second visit this year to Sri Lanka, in a meeting with the Sri Lankan president at Temple Trees , said,

“On the international front, let me assure you of the Maldives’ continuous support .”

Families in the Valikaamam North who were displaced by the military's High Security Zone 24 years ago, have rejected the army's attempts to resettle them in Akkarai, stating that they only want to be be resettled in their own lands, the Uthayan reported.

"Resettle us in our own lands, we are not willing to be displaced again," the Jaffna newspaper quoted the displaced families as saying to the army.

"We just want our own lands" the families reportedly added, after army soldiers visited families offering the opportunity of being resettled into houses in Akkarai.

The Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, speaking at a press briefing in New York after the release of a UN report on sexual violence, expressed concern over incidents of sexual violence in Sri Lanka, reports Inner City Press.

Responding to questions regarding how the UN would act to stop the use of sexual violence to oppress an ethnic community, the official stated she had discussions with Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to New York regarding this issue.

“The most important thing we have said to them is for them to actually appoint a focal person to deal with this," she added.

Bangura added that she would meet Yasmin Sooka, a former member of the UN panel of experts on Sri Lanka, to discuss what could be done on the issue in Sri Lanka.

Military soldiers photographed children and teachers in school in Valayankattu and Kaakkaiyinkulam in Mannar district, BBC Tamil reported.

Entering schools during lessons times, the military also gathered information about the students, teachers and headteacher.

The Sri Lankan government today, rejected UN concerns over sexual violence in conflict on the island, deeming them to be matters of accountability and reconciliation issues that could be solved internally, reports a Sri Lankan daily.

“We are disappointed that such issues which have no relevance to this issue have been dragged into this report, “ the Daily Mirror quoted the government as saying.

China will continue to support Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council, said Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin during a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday, reported the Daily Mirror.

Minister Zhenmin thanked the president for his personal interest in maintaining relations between the countries.

“We will continue to support Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Sri Lanka will always find a friend in China.”

“You have established a close friendship with the Chinese leadership,” Mr. Liu said, adding that this personal relationship “will play a guiding role in China-Sri Lanka relations.”

A man was arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) in Jaffna on Thursday evening.

He is alleged to have been a “close associate of ‘Gopi’”, who was reported to have been killed by the Sri Lankan military earlier this month, reported Colombo Gazette.

The National Freedom Front (NFF), a partner of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling coalition, accused the government of turning ‘a blind eye’ to the actions of the TNA, who have not given up on their separatist goal, reported Ceylon Today.

Spokesperson Mohammad Muzzamil said that the TNA and its MP MA Sumanthiran were instilling “sentiments of racial hatred” in Tamils and that they hoped to tie a cyanide capsule around the necks of every Tamil youth, with the help of the Tamil diaspora and “imperialistic” western powers.

"MP Sumanthiran has said that the government is falsely enacting the resurgence of the LTTE in the North. He has said that by doing this the aim of the government is to fortify its military presence in there. MP Sumanthiran has also said that subsequent to the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, there is no terrorism in the country. However, despite the end of the LTTE, the TNA has not given up on its attempts to form a separatist state in the country,

The British Ambassador to Colombo John Rankin told a business forum that sanctions on Sri Lanka are not currently an issue and that it was not “necessarily” in Britain’s interest to impose sanctions, reported LBO.

“Sanctions are not currently an issue. First, because the Human Rights Council does not have the power or mandate to impose sanctions. And to the best of my knowledge no government to date has proposed economic sanctions on Sri Lanka,” the ambassador told an ‘LBR-LBO CEO’ forum on meeting the challenges of a resolution on Sri Lanka by UN's Human Rights Council.

"Nor would sanctions necessarily be in the interests of a country like the UK. Policy is not uni-dimensional towards Sri Lanka. UN rights issues and Human Rights Resolutions are not the sole purpose of our policy."

Rankin pointed out that failure to comply with conditions on human rights issues had economic consequences in the past, as with the loss of GSP+ trade concessions.

"That was a matter of choice of Sri Lanka. But it demonstrates that those choices human rights issues can have an impact on economic relationships," he said.

Sri Lankan troops surrounded the home of outspoken Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan this evening, in what she described as an ongoing effort to intimidate her and those who interact with her.