Sri Lanka's Shavendra Silva Removed from UN Group

Silva was a top military commander.

Shavendra Silva photo courtesy: The Sunday Leader

(GENEVA) - Sri Lanka’s deputy U.N. ambassador has been dropped from a group advising Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on payment to troops participating in U.N. peacekeeping operations, the Associated Press reported today.

According to the report, the group’s chair, former U.N. deputy secretary-general Louise Frechette, said in a statement Wednesday that after consulting other members she had advised Major General Shavendra Silva “that his participation is not appropriate or helpful.”

Silva was a top commander during the final stages of the country’s civil war.

Frechette gave no further explanation, but Silva headed Division 58, which was named in a U.N. report in connection with alleged war crimes.

Special thanks to the Sunday Leader

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/02/23/shavendra-removed-from-un-group/