Sri Lanka’s deputy U.N. ambassador, who was a top commander during the final stages of the country’s civil war, has been dropped from a group advising Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on payment to troops participating in U.N. peacekeeping operations, AP reports.

 

 

But Major General Shavendra Silva still attended the first meeting Wednesday of a special advisory panel to UN leader Ban Ki-moon. He sat in the room but no other member spoke to him and no documents were given to him, diplomats said according to AFP.

 

 

Silva’s nomination to the panel by Asia-Pacific countries at the UN set off a storm of protest by rights groups. A Canadian official who chairs the special advisory group (SAG) said in a statement that Silva “will not participate” in the panel’s work.

 

 

Silva has been accused of playing a central role in the Sri Lankan military’s crushing the LTTE uprising in 2009 in which it is alleged that thousands of people died, according to UN experts and rights groups.

 

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.”

 

 

The report by a panel of experts appointed by the secretary-general concluded that tens of thousands of people were killed in the last five months of Sri Lanka’s civil war, primarily by government troops. The 26-year war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels ended in May 2009.

 

A call to Sri Lanka’s U.N. Mission early Wednesday evening seeking comment was not answered.

 

Philippe Bolopion, United Nations director for Human Rights Watch, praised Frechette’s action.

 

“By defeating Silva’s attempt to pose as a respectable peacekeeping expert, Louise Frechette took a principled stand,” he said. “She should not be left alone defending the U.N.’s integrity. Member states and the U.N. secretary-general should publicly back her decision.” (AP and AFP)