21/01/2020 11:37
Sri Lanka civil war: Rajapaksa says thousands missing are dead
Sri Lanka's president has acknowledged for the first time that more than 20,000 people who disappeared during the country's civil war are dead.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the remark in a meeting with a UN envoy in the capital, Colombo, BBC reports.
Steps would be taken to issue death certificates for those missing, a statement from his office said.
Hundreds of families of the missing have been attending rallies demanding to know where their loved ones are.
Many had held out hope that their relatives were still alive and in the hands of the security forces, a view rejected by the government. These families meet and hold daily vigils to protest and to keep their relatives’ memories alive.