U.N. rights chief meets families of Sri Lanka's war victims

United Nations (U.N.) High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein speaks to the media before he leaves his hotel to meet Sri Lankan politicians and diplomats in Colombo February 6, 2016. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - 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.

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.