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UN holds 'urgent' Sri Lanka talks UN envoy in Sri Lanka for talks
(about 1 hour later)
A senior United Nations official, Lynn Pascoe, has begun a visit to Sri Lanka for two days of talks on urgent matters. A top UN envoy has arrived in Sri Lanka for talks with the government on the post-conflict situation in the country.
The world body has been expressing concern at the slow pace of release of Tamil refugees. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe is due to visit the huge camps for internally displaced Tamil civilians on Thursday.
Many are still detained in government-run camps four months after the end of the war. He says he will press the government to speed up the release of the Tamils, whose numbers are put at about 300,000.
The UN is sounding a note of urgency on Sri Lanka and these meetings may well be tense. The envoy said he would also urge the government to address allegations of human rights abuses in the fighting.
Mr Pascoe, the UN's head of political affairs, will hold talks on "critical issues", the UN said. 'Very concerned'
"We're very concerned about the pace of progress," Mr Pascoe said in New York before leaving. UN officials say Mr Pascoe will be holding talks on critical issues related to the aftermath of the armed conflict.
In the same breath he referred to agreements made by the government when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited in May, including ones on accountability for possible violation of human rights laws, and on the movement of Tamil refugees out of their camps. The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says there are issues of great sensitivity. One is the resettlement of the Tamil internal refugees, most of whom are still not allowed to leave government-run camps in the north.
Although the authorities are gradually letting some return to their villages, the UN wants to see faster progress.
FROM BBC WORLD SERVICE More from BBC World ServiceFROM BBC WORLD SERVICE More from BBC World Service
The government is now letting more people return home but still detains many others. As Mr Pascoe prepares to visit the main camp, aid agencies are worried the shelters may not easily withstand the coming monsoon.
It has also just rejected the idea of a European Union investigation into its rights record, saying: "We do not have human rights issues." Another sensitive area is setting up what the UN calls a mechanism of accountability, for alleged human rights violations in the context of the conflict.
Mr Pascoe says he will also discuss Sri Lanka's decision to expel the spokesman for the UN Children's Fund for allegedly parroting Tamil Tiger propaganda, and will raise the continued detention of two Sri Lankan UN staff. Sri Lanka has so far staved off international moves to investigate such allegations.
Last week a UN spokeswoman said they had initially been "disappeared" by the government in June and there were allegations that the authorities had mistreated them. Its communique on the visit says the government looks forward to the widest possible engagements, but not surprisingly, it doesn't mention human rights, our correspondent says.
Mr Pascoe will also have talks on political reconciliation.
"We're very concerned about the pace of progress," he said in New York before leaving.
He also referred to agreements made by the government when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited in May, including ones on accountability for possible violation of human rights laws, and on the movement of Tamil refugees out of their camps.