By Nita Bhalla

NEW DELHI, Sept 7 (AlertNet) - The United Nations children's fund UNICEF strongly refuted reports on Monday that its spokesman expelled by Sri Lanka over the weekend was spreading propaganda in favour of Tamil Tiger separatists.

UNICEF's spokesman in Colombo, James Elder, was informed that his residency visa was being revoked and that he had until Sept. 21 to leave the Indian Ocean island.

A senior Sri Lankan official said Elder was expelled after comments he made about the impact on children of a 25-year war with Tamil Tiger rebels that ended in May, adding that Elder's remarks mirrored reports on pro-Tiger website TamilNet.

"U.N. officials must not get involved in domestic politics, and certainly a U.N. official should not say or do things supportive of a terrorist organisation," said Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, a former U.N. official.

"James Elder either wittingly or unwittingly used information that was on TamilNet that was unacceptable to the government of Sri Lanka," he told Reuters.

Kohona also said the government was considering some representations made by UNICEF and may review its decision to expel Elder.

UNICEF's chief of communications in South Asia, Sarah Crowe, said the organisation "strongly refuted" reports that Elder's remarks supported the separatist rebels.

"Whatever statements James has made, they have been approved by UNICEF and are on behalf of UNICEF and we stand by them," Crowe told AlertNet in New Delhi.

"We can only try to imagine what horrors children went through in this conflict, just as they would in any other conflict in the world."

"UNIMAGINABLE HELL"

In previous statements to the media, Elder has spoken of the poor conditions of camps where around 280,000 Tamils displaced by the war are being held by the government, waiting to be resettled.

He has also spoken of the "unimaginable hell" that children went through during the final months of the conflict, where government forces had trapped the rebels and hundreds of thousands of civilians on a tiny strip of land.

Crowe said meetings to discuss the details of Elder's expulsion were continuing with the Colombo government.

Both the Tamil Tigers and government forces have come under heavy criticism by Western governments and human rights groups for the manner in which the final months of the war were fought.

Activists say the government showed wanton disregard for human life by continuously using heavy artillery to shell the area where the Tigers had retreated and forcibly held hundreds of thousands of civilians as human shields.

The international community has also pressed Sri Lanka to quickly resettle the 280,000 civilians being held in government camps around Vavuniya in the island's north.

Many aid agencies in Sri Lanka say they face an uphill struggle to access and provide relief to those in the camps due to government restrictions. Most aid workers are deterred from speaking openly about the humanitarian situation in the country, afraid they may be expelled or have their work curtailed.

The Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) called on the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and international donors to demand that Sri Lanka revoke Elder's expulsion and allow all aid agencies access to the camps.

"Unless international donors ensure respect for full and unrestricted access, they shall be condoning and contributing to continued flagrant violations of international human rights and humanitarian law standards by the Sri Lankan government," said Suhas Chakma, ACHR's director.

(Additional reporting by Bryson Hull in Colombo)

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