Secretary-General Ban dispatches senior UN official to Sri Lanka

A senior United Nations political official will tomorrow kick off a week-long mission to Sri Lanka, which has been troubled by violence in recent years, to examine the world body’s work in the island country after a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The upcoming visit by Angela Kane, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, is part of her regular consultations in the areas of her responsibility, according to a statement issued by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson.

“The primary purpose of her visit is to review the work of the United Nations Country Team in Sri Lanka in all key areas,” the statement said of Ms. Kane’s upcoming visit, which follows a mission to the South Asian island nations she made last February.

In January, the Government withdrew from a 2002 ceasefire agreement that had halted a decades-long conflict with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

“The only way to stop further violence in Sri Lanka is through dialogue,” the Secretary-General said in a statement last month.

He also urged the parties concerned “to undertake genuine efforts to achieve a peaceful negotiated solution.”