Ranil Wickremasinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe ( born March 24, 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician. From 1984 to 1993 held Wickremesinghe several ministerial posts under Presidents Junius Richard Jayawardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa. He is leader of the opposition United National Party ( UNP) and from 1993 to 94 ( nachgerückt after the assassination of Premadasa ) and from April 2001 to December 2004 Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

During his tenure, he acted in February 2002 of a ceasefire in the conflict with the Tamils ​​and finished so temporarily 's 20 -year civil war. Wickremesinghe occurs to a greater one for a more moderate policy towards the Tamils ​​in the north of the country and is in favor of a federal solution. In the 2005 presidential election, he defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa just after he had suffered a defeat against Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1999.