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Shavendra Silva, then Chief of Staff of the Army, at a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 16, 2019. REUTERS / Dinuka Liyanawatte

Thunderclap in Sri Lanka: The president has just appointed a new chief of the military who is accused of war crimes by the UN. Shavendra Silva allegedly orchestrated some of the atrocities committed in 2009 in the final months of the war against the Tamil rebels, a 37-year-old war that killed at least 100,000 people.

Last January, the appointment of Shavendra Silva as the Army Chief of Staff had already moved. This did not prevent President Sirisena from giving him this Monday the armchair of chief of the armies.

Organizational Reaction International Truth and Justice Project: It's " a tremendous evil for Sri Lanka ", which will spark fear, especially among the Tamil people. Shavendra Silva was leading Division 58 in the final phase of the civil war between the army and the Tamil rebels, and the UN accuses him of shooting down rebels who were surrendering.

According to the Sri Lankan daily Daily FT , President Sirisena made this decision despite resistance from some members of his party. Some fear that this appointment will jeopardize Sri Lanka's cooperation with the United Nations for its peacekeeping operations, and with the United States for defense. The US Embassy in Colombo has already pointed out that the arrival of Shavendra Silva undermines Sri Lanka's international reputation and its promise of justice for the victims.

Statement from the US Embassy on the Appointment of Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva as Army Commander. pic.twitter.com/63XUA4l0oR

US Embassy Colombo (@USEmbSL) August 19, 2019

A promise on which President Sirisena was elected four years ago, and whose record remains poor: Colombo still refuses to set up an independent investigation into the atrocities committed by the army at the end of the civil war .