Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Sri Lanka's President Appoints His Brother As Prime Minister

Sri Lanka's new President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) has named his older brother and former president Mahinda (L) as prime minister - pictured here in 2019

Al Jazeera: Sri Lanka's new president picks brother Mahinda Rajapaksa as PM

Mahinda, a two-term president himself, likely to be sworn in on Thursday following Ranil Wickremesinghe's resignation.

Newly-elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has named his brother, Mahinda, as prime minister, cementing the grip on power of a clan credited with crushing the Tamil Tigers 10 years ago.

Mahinda, a two-term president himself, is due to be sworn in as prime minister on Thursday following the resignation of Ranil Wickremesinghe after his party suffered a humiliating defeat in the weekend's presidential polls.

The Rajapaksa brothers are credited with brutally destroying the Tamil Tigers to end Sri Lanka's 26-year-long civil war, with the security services they controlled accused of war crimes and multiple human rights abuses.

Read more ....

Update #1: New Sri Lankan leader's brother to be sworn in as PM: spokesman (Reuters)
Update #2: A family affair: Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa dynasty (AFP)

WNU Editor: I guess he trusts his brother.

1 comment:

Bob Huntley said...

Appoints his brother as PM, something that is very unlikely to happen in the USA.