Sri Lankan prez Rajapaksa to appoint new PM, cabinet this week

Amid a severe economic crisis, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that he will appoint a new Prime Minister and a young Cabinet this week. Former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the President’s elder brother, resigned after the country was engulfed in deadly violence.

The president also said that the new prime minister and cabinet will be brought in to bring constitutional reforms that will grant more power to the parliament.

“I am taking steps to form a new government to control the current situation, to prevent the country from falling into anarchy as well as to maintain the affairs of the government that have been halted,” the Sri Lankan president said in a statement on Wednesday.

Speaking on the nationwide violence that erupted on Monday, the president said the incident was very unfortunate. "The murders, assaults, acts of intimidation, destruction of property, and the series of heinous acts that followed cannot be justified at all," he said.

Gotabaya added that police have been directed to conduct investigations and Sri Lanka Police and Three-Armed Forces have been ordered to strictly enforce the law against those who cause violence.