U.N. official visits Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- U.N. envoy B. Lynn Pascoe said he will raise the issue of resettling displaced Tamils in Sri Lankan camps on his visit to the island nation.

"We are very concerned about the pace of progress," Pascoe said Monday at the United Nations as he prepared to travel to Sri Lanka at the request of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. News Service said.

"The secretary-general was there (in Sri Lanka) and a series of commitments was made … including on the movement of people out of camps and including an eventual political process and some kind of accountability mechanism."

About 300,000 Tamils, displaced from their homes during the Sri Lankan military's campaign against the Tamil Tiger rebels, have been housed in camps with poor facilities since May when the military declared victory over the rebels.

The United Nations, its agencies and other international groups have been critical of the Sri Lankan government's slow progress in resettling the displaced people who are reportedly facing a humanitarian crisis in the camps. Only a few thousand of them have returned to their homes.

Pascoe's trip was arranged by the secretary-general after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to the mission, the U.N. News report said.

Pascoe said he also planned to discuss the continued detention of two U.N. staff members and the Sri Lanka's decision to expel U.N. children's agency spokesman James Elder.