Sri Lanka president orders probe on war-time disappearances

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, under pressure from the United Nations and the West to address alleged rights abuses during a nearly three-decade war, ordered an inquiry on Friday into mass disappearances during the war, his office said.

But analysts said any inquiry would have to be credible in order to stave off further criticism of Sri Lanka's human rights record by Western countries and international groups.

Hundreds of people are still missing four years after the end of the war to defeat Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka. Most of the missing are Tamils and the president has resisted calls for an international investigation into what happened to them.