UN chief visits ravaged Sri Lanka
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon begins two-day visit in Sri Lanka touring refugee camps
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Friday, 22, May 2009 07:54
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon is in Sri Lanka today for a two-day visit to see firsthand the camps housing hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Mr Ban is in Sri Lanka to ensure humanitarian aid is reaching those who need it most and help facilitate dialogue between the government and representatives of the Tamil minority.
"We urgently need to treat the wounds of a war that have alienated the communities in the island for almost three decades," he told journalists in Geneva ahead of his trip.
Earlier this week the government claimed victory in a 26-year civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam with the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
More than 70,000 people are thought to have died during that period, while about 250,000 people have been left displaced by the military operation that concluded on Monday.
Mr Ban is due visit refugee camps amid concerns aid is not getting through to the IDPs [internal displaced persons] as soldiers screen detainees for Tamil Tiger connections.