By DPA
Colombo : Sri Lanka expressed concern Monday about the situation in Myanmar, where peaceful demonstrations have been met with a brutal government crackdown, and said it expected the country to resolve “all issues through a peaceful process of national reconciliation and political accommodation”.
Sri Lanka, which maintains close ties with Myanmar, was criticized for its silence until now on the deadly crackdown that began last week after more than a month of peaceful anti-government protests.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that Sri Lanka was “concerned at the current situation in Myanmar and will continue to observe it closely”.
The statement said the government hopes all parties would quickly work toward a solution to bring peace and prosperity to Myanmar, one of the poorest and most repressive countries in the world.
Colombo has witnessed street protests outside the Myanmar mission in which an estimated 500 people, most of them Buddhist monks, were involved.
Local Buddhist monks have condemned the military junta’s reaction to the protests, in which monks took the lead in September, and called for the release of those arrested.