Ban calls for speedy political solution to factors behind Sri Lanka’s civil war

In a meeting with a senior Sri Lanka Government official, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today emphasized the need for to find a speedy political solution to the underlying factors behind the country’s civil war that ended three years ago with a Government victory over Tamil separatist rebels, according to his spokesperson.

In a meeting at UN Headquarters in New York with the Sri Lankan Minister of Plantation Industries and Special Presidential Envoy on Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Mr. Ban noted the Government’s latest efforts on accountability as well as the steady progress on resettlement issues, his spokesperson added in a note to the news media.

Sri Lankan Government forces declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009 after a conflict that had raged on and off for nearly three decades and killed thousands of people.

Mr. Ban has long called for full accountability, and the UN Human Rights Council in March called on the Government to take “all necessary additional steps to fulfil its relevant legal obligations and commitment to initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans.”

A three-member panel of experts – established to advise the Secretary-General on accountability issues during the civil war – found there were credible reports that both Government forces and the LTTE committed war crimes during the final months of the conflict.