Sri Lanka’s President replaces Foreign Minister

Sri Lanka’s president has removed the country’s liberal Foreign Minister who spearheaded a successful campaign to extricate the country from possible international sanctions over war crime allegations from the country’s long civil war.

President Maithripala Sirisena replaced Mangala Samaraweera as Foreign Minister on Monday and gave him the portfolio of Finance Minister. Ravi Karunanayake, who headed the Finance Ministry, was named the new Foreign Minister.

Mr. Samaraweera was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s co-sponsoring of a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council that called for international assistance to investigate the alleged wartime abuses. However, he was accused by nationalists of paving the way for outside interference.

It is unclear if Mr. Samaraweera’s removal as Foreign Minister is a sign of a government policy shift toward post-civil war reforms and reconciliation.