COLOMBO: New Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena began assembling a cabinet Saturday on his first day in office as he looks to deliver on pledges to improve the war-torn nation's diplomatic standing and implement democratic reforms.
Sirisena, who was sworn in Friday evening after a shock election victory over veteran strongman Mahinda Rajapakse, was trying to form a "national unity" cabinet that would include members from a cross section of political parties in parliament, an aide said.
"The main task is to choose a cabinet and the work is already underway," Nishantha Warnasinghe told AFP.
Sirisena had offered a 100-day programme to carry out urgent political and economic reforms, including moves to cut back on the powers of the president which Rajapakse had handed to himself during a decade in office.
Shortly after being sworn in, Sirisena appointed as new prime minister the parliamentary opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is expected to wield considerable power.
Wickremesinghe is also seen as having significantly better relations with the West and regional powerhouse India.
In a previous stint as prime minister between 2002 and 2004, he managed to secure international support for a peace process designed to end the island's Tamil separatist conflict.
The efforts ultimately failed as Norwegian-brokered negotiations fell apart when Tamil Tiger rebels broke off talks and returned to fighting in 2006, soon after the hardline nationalist Rajapakse came to power.
Rajapakse came to be shunned by many Western nations, who accused him of turning a blind eye to large-scale human rights abuses.
Several leaders, including the Indian and Canadian prime ministers, boycotted a Commonwealth summit hosted by Rajapakse in November 2013 over his refusal to allow an international investigation into claims of large-scale killings at the end of the war in May 2009.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British leader David Cameron were among the first to congratulate Sirisena.
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