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Sri Lanka's new president picks brother as Prime Minister

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Mahinda Rajapaksa, a two-term president himself, is due to be sworn in as premier on Thursday following the resignation of Ranil Wickremesinghe

THE RAJAPAKSAS. Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party presidential candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and his brother, former Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa wave at supporters during a campaign rally in Homagama on November 13, 2019. Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP

The Rajapaksa brothers are credited with brutally destroying the Tamil Tigers to end Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war, with the security services they controlled accused of war crimes and multiple human rights abuses. With the older Rajapaksa taking over as prime minister, Sri Lanka will for the first time have two brothers at the helm. During the first Mahinda presidency, the eldest brother Chamal was the speaker of parliament.

"The prime minister will have a final meeting with his cabinet as well as other leaders of his coalition before addressing the nation to announce his resignation," his spokesman Sudarshana Gunawardana said earlier in the day. Around 40,000 Tamil civilians were allegedly killed by the military in the closing stages of the conflict when Gotabaya effectively ran the security forces while his brother was president.

He ended up facing accusations of cronyism and incompetence and was also implicated in several financial scandals himself.

 

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