An official announcement at Washington, DC stated that Blake is to visit Sri Lanka. The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake, Jr. will travel to Sri Lanka August 29-31, 2011, the State Department announced on Thursday.

Blake will meet with government officials, civil society representatives, university students and political leaders while in Sri Lanka.

Ahead of the reported visit of Blake, Tamils for Obama urged him to understand the enormous suffering of Tamil civilians over the years. “As the representative of the sole remaining super power, Assistant Secretary Blake should not exert undue pressure on the Tamils’ elected representatives,” said a spokesman for Tamils for Obama. “He should remember that Tamils are the victims here, not the perpetrators. Infact Blake was previously US ambassador to Sri Lanka.

The United States has welcomed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s announcement in Parliament that the Emergency Regulations will lapse at the end of August. Press and Information Officer, U.S. Embassy to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Christopher Elms in a press release stated that the US welcomed the move.