Major General Dinesh Udugama assumed duties as the 70th Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army on Wednesday at Army Headquarters, taking up the service’s second-highest appointment.
The ceremony was held at the Chief of Staff’s office and opened with religious observances. Senior army officers attended.
Udugama comes from the Gajaba Regiment and had served as Deputy Chief of Staff immediately before this appointment. He is a past pupil of St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy.
Filling a post vacated by promotion
The appointment completes a chain of moves at the top of the army that has run since late May.
Udugama succeeds Nilantha Premaratne, who became the 69th Chief of Staff at the end of May while still holding the rank of Major General. Premaratne was appointed Commander of the Sri Lanka Army on July 31, succeeding Lieutenant General Lasantha Rodrigo as the 25th Commander completed his tenure, and made his first official calls on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the Deputy Defence Minister on the same day Udugama took office.
Premaratne’s move to the top job left the Chief of Staff post open for roughly a week.
The changeover falls within a wider reshaping of the defence establishment. A bill to repeal the Chief of Defence Staff Act was gazetted in May, and senior appointments across the three services have turned over steadily through the year.
Sources: Hiru News.
