The Sri Lankan government has appointed two senior army commanders, who are both suspected of committing mass atrocities, as ambassadors.

The Foreign Ministry announced that former army commander Jagath Jayasuriya and former army chief Daya Ratnayake have been nominated as envoys to Brazil and Pakistan respectively. Both held senior positions during the last phase of the armed conflict, which saw grave violations of international humanitarian law.

Giving diplomatic posts to army officers is a trend initiated by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, which saw suspected war criminals in the military, including Shavendra Silva and Jagath Dias, given diplomatic posts, which would provide them with diplomatic immunity while travelling.

The appointments casts further doubt on how genuine the government's apparent efforts to engage with Tamils are, with victims of the crimes long demanding international prosecution of those guilty of the mass atrocities.

The European Union said it was “impossible” to convene any formal dialogue with Sri Lanka regarding human rights, in its Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World.

The report, adopted by the Council on Monday, said “it proved impossible to convene any formalised dialogue with the Sri Lankan authorities, whilst concerns for the human rights and security situation grew”.

The report went on to note that,

“The EU issued several statements, inter alia on the attacks against the Muslim Community (20 June), the appointment of the UN investigation team for Sri Lanka (1 July), and restrictions on non-governmental organisations and on freedom of expression (23 July), in a context of worrying developments such as increased harassment and detention of human rights defenders under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, restrictions on the activities of non-governmental organisations, attacks against religious minorities, electoral violence, gender-based and sexual violence, as well as the detention and deportation of refugees and asylum-seekers”.

The Sri Lankan army ceremoniously declared open a new hall at a Buddhist temple in the Eastern Province last week, reports an official military website.

The UN Human Rights Council has rejected a claim made by a member of the ruling coalition in Sri Lanka, that it provided money to fund a “diaspora festival”, as “completely untrue”.

“Neither the High Commissioner for Human Rights, nor the Human Rights Council has provided any money for any such event,” OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told JDS on Monday.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya, a key coalition partner of the government in power, condemned the decision by the government to hold a "diaspora festival", claiming that the UNHRC had provided $3.2mn.

The Bodu Bala Sena on Tuesday met with the governor of Sri lanka’s Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran, to oppose the recent launch of Islamic financial services by a private bank.

General Secretary of the organisation Galagodaathe Gnanasara questioned why parliamentarians were quiet on the issue.

The prominent monk said Sharia Law had made its way into the school system as well as into the legal system smoothly, without being screened, and blamed the previous government for not taking action on "the spread of sharia law".

“We directly blame the previous government for not taking actions on the spread of Sharia Law as we showed them, who are behind these moves. An immediate discussion was called with the CB Governor to discuss the issue, which is a threat to Sri Lankan society,” he said, according to the Daily Mirror.

The US military has resumed training exercises with Sri Lanka's navy after suspending the cooperation while the previous government was in power, The Island reported.

The US Navy’s Sea, Air and Land Forces – commonly known as SEALs – are taking part in the exercise, which involve the elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and Fast Attack Craft (FAC) flotilla off the coast of Trincomalee in the North-East of the island. According to the paper, the navy headquarters confirmed the resumption of exercises with the US.

A Tamil child has been reported missing in Kilinochchi since Sunday.

Three-year-old Jerusha Santhyakumar went missing while waiting for her mother by an irrigation channel.

Civil society activists have accused police of failing to take the disappearance seriously and have called for intensified efforts to find the child.

Sri Lanka will become the first country to purchase the JF-17 Thunder, a fighter jet developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation of China, reported Pakistan’s 92NewsHD.

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena said he aims to form an SLFP government which will include former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Speaking to SLFP members in Nuwara Eliya, the president said some elements, who threatened to split from the SLFP-led the UPFA and form different political fronts, were doing a great injustice to the party, but that he and his team would never allow the party to split.

Mr Sirisena said votes from Sinhala Buddhists alone would not be enough to win the elections and an action plan to win over the Tamil and Muslim voters will be devised.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe said Sri Lanka will regain the EU’s GSP+ trade concessions after the UN Human Rights Council session in September.

The concessions were withdrawn by the EU over human rights concerns in 2010.

“We earlier thought that the concession applies only to apparel industry but eventually the fish products were also included in the tax concessions,” Mr Wickramasinghe said.

“Now we are working on getting back the GSP plus after the Human Rights Council sessions which are to be held in Geneva in September by solving the existing issues.”

The EU also banned imports of fisheries products from Sri Lanka, its second biggest importer in the sector, in order to "tackle the commercial benefits stemming from illegal fishing”.