The United Nations human rights chief on Sunday travelled to the north and east of Sri Lanka to assess the country's progress in prosecuting alleged war crimes, according to Reuters. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein is the first senior U.N. official in two-and-a-half years to visit the northern conflict zones of the island's 26-year war which ended in May 2009. The coalition of President Maithripala Sirisena, who was elected last year, has agreed to a U.N. resolution that called for post-war reconciliation and an investigation of all alleged war crimes. Zeid began his four-day official visit to Sri Lanka on Saturday, after comments by President Sirisena that foreign participation was not needed for an impartial inquiry into the war. In a tight visit to the northern town of Jaffna, Zeid met relatives of people who disappeared during the war between government forces and Tamil Tiger guerrillas.
