Families of war missing in Sri Lanka urge UN to probe whereabouts

Hundreds of relatives of those missing during and after Sri Lanka's civil conflict on Friday urged UN Chief Ban Ki Moon to launch an international probe to find their whereabouts.

The UN secretary-general, who is on the final leg of his two-day official visit to the island nation, visited former war-torn Jaffna on Friday afternoon where he visited a resettlement site and met with displaced people.

Just before his arrival, hundreds of people had lined outside the Jaffna Library, holding placards and pictures of those missing, even seven years after the end of the war.

Sri Lanka faced a 30-year civil conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels which ended in May 2009 with the defeat of Tigers.

Thousands of people have been listed as missing in the final stages of the war and the families have continuously called for an international probe.

Ban Ki Moon, earlier in the day, told a gathering in Colombo that while Sri Lanka had made progress, there was still much work to be done in order to redress the wrongs of the past and to restore the legitimacy and accountability of key institutions, particularly judiciary and security services.

He also urged the government to speed up the return of land so that the remaining communities of displaced people can return home.

"In parallel, the size of the military force in the North and East could be reduced, helping to build trust and reduce tensions," he said. Endit