Australia stayed silent on alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka in exchange for cooperation in cracking down on people-smuggling, Colombo's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Monday.

Wickremesinghe said former president Mahinda Rajapakse had agreed to help stop boats carrying asylum-seekers leaving for Australia if Canberra kept quiet about alleged abuses committed by the previous regime. 

The leaders of India and Sri Lanka vowed to strengthen their relationship after a period of tensions Monday and declared their countries' fortunes were intertwined as they held their first summit in New Delhi.

China's growing influence in Sri Lanka over recent years has been a source of disquiet in India which has long regarded the neighboring island as within its natural sphere of influence.

Sri Lanka's new president arrived in India Sunday on his first foreign trip in office, trying to rebuild ties hit by tensions over growing Chinese influence on the strategically located island.

Maithripala Sirisena landed in New Delhi for the four-day trip aimed at allaying Indian fears over China's influence on the island that strengthened under President Mahinda Rajapakse's decade-long rule.

Sri Lanka Wednesday urged the U.N. to delay a report into alleged war crimes during the island's civil war to allow the new government to complete its own probe.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera made the appeal in Washington on the eve of talks with top U.S. diplomat John Kerry at the State Department.

Sri Lanka's new President Maithripala Sirisena has renewed orders allowing for troops to be deployed across the island, dampening hopes Thursday of a lower-profile military presence under his rule.

Sirisena's election last month had been expected to lead to a lessening of the numbers of troops in towns and cities -- particularly in former war zones -- which had been a prominent feature of his hardline nationalist predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse's tenure.

New President Maithripala Sirisena vowed Wednesday to end Sri Lanka's pariah status by working with the U.N. and promised national reconciliation, six years after the island's ethnic war ended.

In an address to the nation to mark Sri Lanka's 67th anniversary of independence, Sirisena and his ministers also pledged never again to allow the "land to be traumatized by the shedding of blood of innocents".

The Commonwealth on Tuesday welcomed Sri Lanka's plans to establish a "credible" inquiry into war crimes allegations, after talks with new President Maithripala Sirisena and the former British colony's other leaders.

Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma also offered Commonwealth assistance to set up the judicial inquiry into allegations troops killed thousands of Tamil civilians during the final stages of its ethnic war.

A top U.S. diplomat promised Monday that Washington would be a friend and partner of Colombo as she made the first visit by a senior American official since the toppling of Sri Lanka's long-time strongman.

In the build-up to last month's presidential elections, a top lieutenant to then president Mahinda Rajapakse accused the United States of trying to bring about "regime change", marking a new low in bilateral relations.

Sri Lanka's new government on Thursday accused the military of trying to sow unrest to sabotage its efforts to bring about ethnic reconciliation in the war-ravaged north of the country.

Sri Lanka has promised to give greater autonomy to the mainly Tamil northern peninsula, which was worst hit by the decades-long civil war, and remained heavily militarized under the former administration.

Sri Lanka's new president on Wednesday restored the country's former chief justice after she was controversially impeached by the previous administration led by Mahinda Rajapakse.

Lawyers welcomed Shirani Bandaranayake with bouquets of flowers at the Supreme Court in Colombo, although the decision to reinstate her will likely be largely ceremonial as she is expected to step down on Thursday.