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UN human rights chief in Sri Lanka over atrocities probe

The UN's top human rights official has arrived in Sri Lanka amid concerns that the country's president is backtracking on promises to investigate war crimes.

Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, will spend four days in the country.

Mr Al Hussein will travel to the former war zone and will meet victims of human rights violations. He will also talk to top government officials,HP Ultrasound Transducer civil activists and religious leaders.

His follows a UN resolution last year, co sponsored by the Sri Lankan government, that required foreign judges to assist in the investigation.

Speaking to the BBC last month, President Sirisena said Sri Lanka did not need to "import" specialists.

"We have more than enough specialists, experts and knowledgeable people in our country to solve our internal issues," he said.

In October 2015, Sri Lanka co sponsored a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for a special judicial mechanism to prosecute war crimes.

Both the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels are accused of atrocities in the civil war that ended in 2009. As many as 100,000 people are thought to have died in the conflict.