Sri Lanka Criticises UN Aid Chief Over Safety Fears

Sri Lanka's government on Friday rejected concerns voiced by the United Nations' top aid official about humanitarian worker safety on the island after a rash of killings, and a state newspaper called him a liar.

Sir John Holmes, U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, told Reuters during a visit to Sri Lanka this week that the Indian Ocean island was among the most dangerous places in the world for aid workers.

Aid agencies say 34 humanitarian staff have been killed in Sri Lanka since January 2006, including 17 local staff of Action Contre La Faim shot dead in the restive northeast a year ago in a massacre Nordic truce monitors blamed on security forces.

Holmes put the aid worker death toll at "almost 30".

"The government of Sri Lanka, in no uncertain terms, rejects John Holmes' assertion that Sri Lanka is not safe for humanitarian workers," Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said in a statement to parliament.

"The government cannot but feel that Sir John has contributed to those who seek to discredit the government and tarnish its international image," he added. "It cannot but utterly reject the remarks by him in his interview with Reuters."

Officials said Holmes' comments were in sharp contrast to conversations he had with government officials. Parliament is due to hold a debate on the issue following a request by the island's hardline Marxist party, the JVP, officials said.

Press freedom groups have separately said Sri Lanka is also among the most dangerous places in the world to cover. Rights groups say around a dozen journalists and media workers have been killed since late 2005.

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State-owned Sinhalese language daily Dinamina, a government mouthpiece, ran a banner headline: "Tells truth to President and U.N. but lies to Reuters. John Holmes in a dual play".

"There is a concern ... about the safety of humanitarian workers themselves and the record here is one of the worst in the world from that point of view," Holmes told Reuters in an interview published on Thursday.

"We've seen almost 30 humanitarian workers killed over the last 18 months or so," he added, calling on the government to probe civil war abuses and consider an international rights monitoring mission.

Holmes said he had positive and frank discussions with government officials, and had been reassured that abuses would be looked into. He called on the government and their rebel foes to ensure aid workers have access to the needy, and called for respect of international humanitarian law.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government denies security forces have been involved in rights abuses and says a presidential commission is probing the allegations. The government has also rejected calls for a United Nations rights monitoring mission.

Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Sri Lanka since 1983 -- around 4,500 in the last year alone.