Just hours after the UN office in Colombo said that the closing down of the UNDP Regional Center in Sri Lanka was not linked to the protests outside the UN in Colombo, UN Associate spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York a short while ago that both were linked.

He said that a decision was earlier taken to scale down the activities of the UNDP Regional Center in Sri Lanka but following the protests in Colombo the UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon had decided to completely shut down the UNDP Regional Center.

“The decision to close down the UNDP Regional Center in Colombo was taken as a direct response to the situation affecting our main UN compound (in Colombo). Prior to this a discussion was held with the Foreign Minister to downsize the operations. However in light of the announcement by the Secretary General we are now closing that Center outright,” Haq told reporters a short while ago.

Earlier in the day an official at the UN office in Colombo told Daily Mirror online that preparations were underway for several months now to close down the UNDP Regional Center in Sri Lanka and it was not linked to the protest.

“To my knowledge it (closing the UNDP Regional Center) has nothing to do with this current issue because it has been on the cards for several months. It is not a new move. This UNDP Regional Center was located earlier in Kathmandu but because of the worsening security situation there during that time, the decision was taken to shift the Center to Colombo somewhere in 2006 or 2007. However within the last year a decision was taken, taking into consideration some administrative and financial concerns to downsize the regional center and to shift the main functions to the Bangkok office. This is not a new move as it has been on the card for several months,” a UN Colombo official explained. (Daily Mirror online)