Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena appointed members of a new unity government Friday, a day after parliament endorsed the move as part of efforts to address ethnic reconciliation after decades of war. President Sirisena gave most portfolios in the 43-minister cabinet to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP), which won the August 17 general elections but fell short of an absolute majority. The rest were given to Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the country's second biggest party, who it will govern with in coalition.
The SLFP was in opposition until the most recent election. "We have agreed to work as one group for a period of two years," President Sirisena said as he addressed the newly appointed ministers after a swearing-in ceremony in the capital Colombo. Earlier this week, Sirisena asked the new parliament to take "difficult political decisions" to help bring about ethnic reconciliation between majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils six years after the end of a 37-year civil war.
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