Sri Lankan president leaves for U.S.

COLOMBO, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa left here Wednesday for the United States.

Presidential official Bandula Jayasekera was quoted by local media as saying that Rajapaksa has left for a private visit.

The visit to the U.S. came after his December visit to Britain. Sources said he would meet with the Sri Lankan diaspora in the country.

U.S. diplomatic cables published in Wikileaks showed that the U. S. criticized the Sri Lankan government of human right abuses during the longstanding civil war which ended in May 2009.

Sri Lanka's government last December expressed dissatisfaction about that, saying that mendacious stories of abuses were fabricated to denigrate Sri Lanka.

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