Former Sri Lankan president and brother of the newly elected president Mahinda Rajapaksa is to be sworn in as Sri Lankan prime minister tomorrow, as the current prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his decision to resign.

A new cabinet will also be appointed tomorrow, reports BBC correspondent Azzam Ameen.

As Sri Lanka’s new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa takes up office, we look back on a brief selection of interviews he gave to international media outlets during his tenure as secretary of defence.

Kamal Gunaratne, a former Sri Lankan military commander accused of overseeing war crimes and who called for supporters of a new Sri Lankan constitution "traitors", was this week appointed as Sri Lanka’s Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.

Updated 1145 GMT

Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that he will resign from his role as Sri Lanka's prime minister and will be informing the new president of his decision tomorrow.

Sri Lanka’s extremist Buddhist hate group the Bodu Bala Sena announced that it would disband in the wake of Gotabaya Rajapaksa becoming Sri Lanka’s new president, claiming that a “good leader” has come to power.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Power Force in Sinhala, held a press conference, where leader Galagodaaththe Gnanasara claimed “the country has a good leader now”.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R Sampanthan defended war-crimes accused Gotabaya Rajapaksa's landslide among Sinhalese voters, a day after the Rajapaksa camp essentially declared the TNA as obsolete.

“Many people who voted for [Gotabaya] have done so because of their disappointment with the performance of this government. The non-delivery on various fundamental issues like costs of living, corruption, fertiliser [subsidy], and employment,” Sampanthan told The Hindu, emphasising there were “various factors”.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has reappointed Ravainatha Aryasinha as Foreign Secretary today.

Aryasinha was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who has been accused of overseeing war crimes, torture and running “white van” squads who would abduct dissenting journalists.

Clearance of the Tharavai thuyilum illam in Batticaloa took place on Tuesday in preparation for Maaveerar Naal.

The Tamil youths who led the clear-up of the cemetery, which was destroyed during new Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa's tenure as defence secretary, called for people to join them on November 27 to pay tribute to the fallen LTTE fighters, as they have for the past two years.

The Sunday Times reports that Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is set to resign from his post tomorrow. 

Wickremesinghe has faced a wave of criticism following the Easter Sunday bombings which claimed the lives of over 250 people across the island. Whilst speaking to reporters he admitted failure on the government's behalf to act decisively.