The Sri Lankan government has denied allegations that it intimidated UN staff at the end of the civil war.

The claims were made in a UN report leaked to the BBC, in which the UN accused itself of failing the civilian Tamil population in the final stages of the conflict in 2009.

The Sri Lankan UN ambassador said it was “absolute nonsense” to say a “small country” could intimidate the UN.

Palitha Kohona said his country had worked with senior UN officials.

Plantations Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told a press conference in the capital, Colombo, that he did not want to comment directly on the report.

But he said: “How can you intimidate them [the UN]? They don’t get intimidated by anyone.”

The UN’s investigation into its own conduct during the last months of the conflict concluded: “Events in Sri Lanka mark a grave failure of the UN.”

It said the organisation should in future “be able to meet a much higher standard in fulfilling its protection and humanitarian responsibilities”.

The report does highlight the positive role played by some UN staff on the ground and the secretary general, but it points to a “systemic failure”.

It questions decisions such as the withdrawal of UN staff from the war zone in September 2008 after the Sri Lankan government warned it could no longer guarantee their safety.

A Tamil school teacher now seeking asylum in Britain, said “We begged them [the UN], we pleaded with them not to leave the area. They did not listen to us.”

The teacher who did not want to be named, added: “If they had stayed there, and listened to us, many more people would be alive today.”

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20322098

Source: BBC