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Sri Lanka 'expels Unicef spokesman'

Sep 07 2009

Sri Lanka 'expels Unicef spokesman'

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By Agencies

Thousands of Tamil children are being held in military-run displacement camps [Reuters]
A senior official from Unicef, the United Nations' children's fund, has been ordered to leave Sri Lanka after he expressed concerns over the plight of Tamil children during the government's military campaign against Tamil rebels, the UN has said.

James Elder, the official spokesperson for Unicef, has reportedly been told by Sri Lankan officials that he has two weeks to leave the country.

Unicef says no reason has been given for the expulsion.

Sri Lankan media reports have said authorities were angered by Elder's remarks on the plight of children caught up in the government's military campaign against the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels and those currently living in displacement camps.

"We have not got any reason as to why. We are in discussion with the government," said Sarah Crowe, UNICEF's head of communications for South Asia.

However, Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's foreign minister said news that Elder was being expelled was incorrect, although his visa status had been placed under review.

"There's a rule that UN officials follow and it's a rule that is followed invariably - they do not get involved in domestic politics," he said.

"Unicef is talking to us and we will continue to talk to Unicef."

'Unimaginable hell'

Sri Lankan soldiers defeated the Tigers in May, ending one of Asia's longest civil wars.

Before the government's defeat of the Tigers, Elder spoke of the "unimaginable hell" suffered by children caught up in the last stages of the war.

According to UN estimates the decades-long war left between 80,000 and 100,000 people dead.

As fighting peaked earlier this year during the Sri Lankan army's final offensive, the UN and human rights groups said an increasing number of civilians, many of them children, were caught in the crossfire.

During the war the Sri Lanka government maintained tight control of media coverage of the fighting, banning virtually all access to the conflict zone in the northeast and issuing few visas to international reporters.

More than 280,000 Tamil civilians are now being held in military-run displacement camps with the government maintaining tight restrictions on access by aid groups.