UN political chief kicks off two-day visit to Sri Lanka

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe began a two-day visit to Sri Lanka on Wednesday as part of the UN efforts to continue its attention to post-war challenges facing the island country, Farhan Haq, the UN associate spokesman, told reporters here.

Pascoe held meetings in the capital Colombo with President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka and other senior Government officials, and was scheduled to meet later in the evening with the Leader of the Opposition, Haq said.

On Wednesday, Pascoe also visited areas around Mullaitivu town in the North, close to where the last battles of the conflict were waged in May 2009 and where people who fled their homes during the armed conflict are being resettled with assistance from the government, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations. He was briefed on progress as well as difficulties in the resettlement process in the District, which is home today to a resettled population of more than 40,000.

The town of Mullaitivu was the focus of fighting in May last year, when government forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after several decades of war.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pascoe also met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris and Attorney General Mohan Peiris, in Colombo, according to information released by the under-secretary- general's office.


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