Ban Ki-moon holds talks with Sri Lankan PM

Colombo, Sep 1: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held talks with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on Thursday.

The Secretary General, who is on his second official visit to the country since the end of the civil war in 2009, was recieved by Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha de Silva on Wednesday night, EFE news reported. 

He is expected to meet with President Maithripala Sirisena, Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray and opposition Tamil National Alliance members, according to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The eighth secretary general will raise the issue of post-conflict reconciliation as well as an investigation into war crimes to ensure accountability for human rights violations committed during the 25-year war in which more than 300,000 persons were killed, as cited by the UN Regional Information Center for Western Europe (UNRIC).

In 2011, Ban Ki-moon convened an investigation committee into war crimes.

The visit of the UN head here sparked protests countrywide with nationalist groups calling for the UN to respect national sovereignty and with Sinhalese groups demanding justice for ongoing discrimination and abuse.

Ban Ki-moon will depart Sri Lanka after three days on September 2 to attend the upcoming G20 Summit in China's city of Hangzhou.