Sonali Samarasinghe appointed Minister Counsellor at SL Mission to UN in New York
Saturday, 25 April 2015 00:03
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Sonali Samarasinghe, the widow of slain The Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, has been appointed Minister Counsellor at Sri Lanka's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
The appointment was made through a Cabinet paper that was approved this week, Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said.
Samarasinghe, a lawyer and journalist, has been an International Visiting Scholar at Ithaca College in New York, while living in exile since the assassination of her husband. Before his death, she served as Editor of The Morning Leader, published by the Leader Publications.
During the term of the previous UNP regime between 2001 and 2004, Samarasinghe was granted a diplomatic posting to the Sri Lankan High Commission in Australia.
"She is highly-qualified and capable," highly-placed sources at the Foreign Ministry told the Daily FT.
Samarasinghe's appointment comes in the wake of the new Government summarily recalling a host of political appointees named by the previous regime to Sri Lankan diplomatic outposts.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera earlier pledged to professionalise the Sri Lanka Foreign Service, and limit political appointments to a handful of skilled persons from other fields only to head of mission positions in Sri Lankan embassies.
