A ceremony inaugurating Mahinda Rajapaksa as President of Sri Lanka for a second term, is due to start shortly .

Rajipaksa took credit for bringing years of civil war with separatist Tamil Tigers to an end, during his re-election campaign in January.

But since then, he's appointed his brothers to key cabinet positions and lifted presidential term limits.

As Al Jazeera's Steve Chao reports, there are concerns he's ushering in a new era of dictatorship.