Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse reshuffled his cabinet on Sunday to accommodate a group of legislators from the main opposition the United National Party (UNP).

Also included in the cabinet is Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the main Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, government sources said.

The incumbent Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has been removed from his post, but he will continue to hold his cabinet position as the minister of ports and aviation.

The new foreign minister is Rohitha Bogollagama who himself had crossed over from the UNP in 2004.

Among the UNP's latest dissidents, its former deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya has been appointed the minister of public administration.

President Rajapakse has enticed the UNP members to join him despite his Memorandum of Understanding with the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe signed in October last year.

The MoU bound the two parties over a period of two years for co- operation, foremost among them is the Norwegian backed peace process with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels.

With Sunday's crossovers numbering 18 the total number of UNP defections to the Rajapakse administration becomes 24.

Source: Xinhua