Ravinatha Aryasinha has been appointed as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations office in Geneva from July 1. Meanwhile Tamara Kunanayakam who earlier held the post of Permanent Representative to Geneva has been appointed the new Ambassador to Cuba, the Foreign Ministry confirmed.

Speaking to Ada Derana a short while ago Ravinatha confirmed that he had received the appointment as the new Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations office in Geneva.

Political sources claimed that some of the ambassadorial posts will be shuffled following the 19th UNHRC session that saw a US led resolution against Sri Lanka being passed.

Speaking to the BBC Sandeshaya, Kunanayakam stated that if she was transferred from her post in Geneva it would only aggravate the notion that there is tension between the Tamil and Sinhala communities in Sri Lanka.

She said that she was appointed to the post for the duration of two years and that only nine months had elapsed so far while adding that if she was replaced it would mean that the Sri Lankan government would have appointed four new ambassadors for Geneva in just three years.

She further stated that she had not officially decided on whether to take up the post in Cuba.

The implementation of the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will be discussed by the UNHRC next March.

(Ada Derana)