Major General Ubaya Medawela Appointed New Chief of Staff

Major General U.A.B Medawela RSP VSV USP ndu psc MSc has been appointed as the new Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Army with effect from 1st November 2016. Major General Ubaya Medawela has been serving as the Military Advisor to the Office of Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka for United Nations prior to being appointed as the new Chief of Staff. He was also appointed as the Dean of the Asian Group of Military and Police Advisor during his stay in the US.

Major General Ubaya Medawela before his overseas appointment has served as the Commander, Security Force Headquarters – West and several key appointments.

Born on 3rd December 1961 to a family of six, he studied at Nalanda College, Colombo and excelled in Cricket, Badminton, Athletics and Cadeting. Having completed Advanced Level education in Bio Science, he joined the Army as an Officer Cadet in 1981 and was commissioned on 18th July 1982. He was placed first in Order of Merit and won the Sword of Honour and Tactics prize at the Sri Lanka Military Academy.

Having joined the Sri Lanka Armoured Corps (SLAC), he held all important appointments in the Armoured Regiment. He commanded 1 SLAC in 1995. Thereafter, he held the appointment of Military Assistant to the Commander of the Army, General R de S Daluwatte and had earlier been and Aide-De-Camp to the late Major General D.L Kobbekaduwa.

During his career, he has held instructor appointments at the Sri Lanka Military Academy as a course commander and then as an instructor for Methods of Instructions. He was the mentor of the Officer Par Excellence Course under the guidance of the Commander of the Army, Late General L.D.C.E Waidyaratne.

He has had the opportunity of following Special Arms and other courses in India, Pakistan, Singapore, the Czech Republic and in the USA during his career. He is graded as a class one Armour Officer Instructor by the Armoured Corps Training Centre and School in India.

He was judged as the most distinguished student of the ‘Military Operations and Peace Keeping in Accordance with Law’ Course at Defence Institute of International Legal Studies, Rhode Island, Newport USA. Over and above those courses he has attended seminars and undertaken special visits and assignments to Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Switzerland, UAE and the UK.

He is an alumnus of Defence Services Command and Staff College, Wellington, India with an Instructor Grading and holds a First Division Degree in Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras. He subsequently had an opportunity of becoming a member of the Directing Staff at the Army Command and Staff College, Sri Lanka.

He commended 554 Infantry Brigade in Kilaly, Jaffna and became the Centre Commandant of the Armoured Corps thereafter. He was the Director Armour and Commander Armoured Brigade, prior to taking over as the first Chief Instructor of the Defence Services Command and Staff College, Thereafter he was the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and then was the General Officer Commanding 53 Division.

Having completed the tenure as General Officer Commanding, he took over the appointment as the Military Spokesman and held the appointment as the Director General General Staff at Army Headquarters concurrently.

He held appointments as the Director General Operations and Systems at the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff, Security Force Commander (Central), Security Force Commander (West) and the Colonel Commandant of Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps.

Major General Ubaya Medawela graduated from the National Defence University of China, as the first of the top ten participants out of 75 students from 46 countries and his graduation thesis on ‘Perspective on China’s Policy towards Indian Ocean Region’ was graded as an outstanding thesis unanimously by Chinese experts.

He was a member of the delegation to the 17th Human Rights session in Geneva led by Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.

He is a visiting lecturer to the Department of Industrial Management at University of Kelaniya and Naval Command and Staff College of Thailand.

Major General Medawela was the Chairman Army Cricket and achieved the best performance ever by an Army Team to secure the unbeaten top position in the first class premier league of Sri Lanka Cricket in 2013. Studying wild habitats, exploring beaches, trekking and gardening are his pastimes.

He is a recipient of the Rana Sura Padakkama (RSP) for gallantry, Vishishta Seva Vibushanaya (VSV) and Utthama Seva Padakkama (USP) for unblemished and excellent military career, Long Service Medal for distinguished service and other operational medals.

Presently he is the Military Advisor (Defence) to the office of the Permanent representative of Sri Lanka for United Nations in New York and he has been performing duties in this post since 17th October 2015.