Colombo: President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapakse He fled the country on Wednesday, hours before he stepped down, after a people revolt over a devastating economic crisis ended his family’s powerful hold on the island nation.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe A state of emergency was declared as several hundred people surrounded his office in Colombo, who tried to break into the police compound in riot gear, climbed over the fence. Police fired several rounds of tear gas shells and a military helicopter rammed around.
“The prime minister, as acting president, has declared a state of emergency (countrywide) and imposed a curfew in the Western Province,” Wickremesinghe’s media secretary, Dinouk Colombe, told Reuters. The Western Province includes Colombo.
As news of the President’s flight spread, thousands of people gathered at the main protest site in Colombo, chanting “Gota Chor, Gota Chor”, addressing him by a nickname.
The presidential flight marked an end to the rule of the powerful Rajapaksa clan, which has dominated politics in the South Asian country for the past two decades.
Protests against the economic crisis have been going on for months and came to the fore last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people stormed major government buildings in Colombo, blaming Rajapaksa and his allies for runaway inflation, corruption and severe shortages of fuel and medicines. Convicted.
Government sources and aides said the president’s brother, former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, are still in Sri Lanka.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left the main international airport near Colombo on board a Sri Lankan Air Force aircraft early Wednesday, the Air Force said in a statement.
A government source and close aide of Rajapaksa said he was in Male, the capital of Maldives. A government source said the President is likely to travel to another Asian country from there.
Rajapaksa was to resign from the presidency on Wednesday to form a unity government after protesters stormed the official residences of him and the prime minister.
Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abhayawardene told Reuters partner ANI that he has not yet received any communication from Rajapaksa. A ruling party source said the president would send a letter of resignation later on Wednesday.
This would make Wickremesinghe acting president, although he has also offered to resign. If he does so, according to the constitution, the president will be acting president until a new president is elected.
However, protesting leaders say the prime minister is affiliated with Rajapaksa and has warned of a “decisive battle” if he does not resign by Wednesday afternoon.
Buddhi Prabodh Karunaratne, one of the organizers of the recent protests, said, “If we do not hear about the resignation of the President and the Prime Minister by evening, we may have to gather back at Parliament or any other government building. ”
We are strongly against the Gota-Ranil government. Both have to go.”
Amid economic and political turmoil, Sri Lankan sovereign bond prices hit new record highs on Wednesday.
The US embassy in Colombo, which is in the city’s Central District, said it was canceling consular services for the afternoon and Thursday as a precaution.
victim of epidemic
The island nation’s tourism-dependent economy was first marked by covid-19 pandemic And then remittances from overseas Sri Lankans suffered a decline. The ban on chemical fertilizers affected production, although the ban was later lifted.
Rajapaksa implemented populist tax cuts in 2019, slashing government finances while imports of fuel, food and medicines slashed as foreign reserves shrank.
There has been heavy rationing of petrol and long lines have formed in front of shops selling LPG. Headline inflation hit 54.6% last month and the central bank has warned it could rise to 70% in the coming months.
The president’s elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister in May after protests against the family turned violent. He hid at a military base in the east of the country for a few days before returning to Colombo.
In May, the Rajapaksa government appointed the speaker of the Maldivian parliament and a former president, Mohamed Nasheed, to help coordinate foreign aid to beleaguered Sri Lanka.
In the same month, Nasheed publicly denied allegations that he was helping Mahinda Rajapaksa build a safe haven in the Maldives.
Media reports in the Maldives said the Sri Lankan president had arrived in the country early on Wednesday, although Reuters was unable to independently confirm this.
A Maldivian government spokesman did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
On Tuesday, Sri Lankan immigration officials barred Basil Rajapaksa from leaving the country.
It was unclear where Basil Rajapaksa, who holds US citizenship, was trying to go. He resigned as finance minister in early April amid heavy street protests and gave up his seat in parliament in June.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe A state of emergency was declared as several hundred people surrounded his office in Colombo, who tried to break into the police compound in riot gear, climbed over the fence. Police fired several rounds of tear gas shells and a military helicopter rammed around.
“The prime minister, as acting president, has declared a state of emergency (countrywide) and imposed a curfew in the Western Province,” Wickremesinghe’s media secretary, Dinouk Colombe, told Reuters. The Western Province includes Colombo.
As news of the President’s flight spread, thousands of people gathered at the main protest site in Colombo, chanting “Gota Chor, Gota Chor”, addressing him by a nickname.
The presidential flight marked an end to the rule of the powerful Rajapaksa clan, which has dominated politics in the South Asian country for the past two decades.
Protests against the economic crisis have been going on for months and came to the fore last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people stormed major government buildings in Colombo, blaming Rajapaksa and his allies for runaway inflation, corruption and severe shortages of fuel and medicines. Convicted.
Government sources and aides said the president’s brother, former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, are still in Sri Lanka.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left the main international airport near Colombo on board a Sri Lankan Air Force aircraft early Wednesday, the Air Force said in a statement.
A government source and close aide of Rajapaksa said he was in Male, the capital of Maldives. A government source said the President is likely to travel to another Asian country from there.
Rajapaksa was to resign from the presidency on Wednesday to form a unity government after protesters stormed the official residences of him and the prime minister.
Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abhayawardene told Reuters partner ANI that he has not yet received any communication from Rajapaksa. A ruling party source said the president would send a letter of resignation later on Wednesday.
This would make Wickremesinghe acting president, although he has also offered to resign. If he does so, according to the constitution, the president will be acting president until a new president is elected.
However, protesting leaders say the prime minister is affiliated with Rajapaksa and has warned of a “decisive battle” if he does not resign by Wednesday afternoon.
Buddhi Prabodh Karunaratne, one of the organizers of the recent protests, said, “If we do not hear about the resignation of the President and the Prime Minister by evening, we may have to gather back at Parliament or any other government building. ”
We are strongly against the Gota-Ranil government. Both have to go.”
Amid economic and political turmoil, Sri Lankan sovereign bond prices hit new record highs on Wednesday.
The US embassy in Colombo, which is in the city’s Central District, said it was canceling consular services for the afternoon and Thursday as a precaution.
victim of epidemic
The island nation’s tourism-dependent economy was first marked by covid-19 pandemic And then remittances from overseas Sri Lankans suffered a decline. The ban on chemical fertilizers affected production, although the ban was later lifted.
Rajapaksa implemented populist tax cuts in 2019, slashing government finances while imports of fuel, food and medicines slashed as foreign reserves shrank.
There has been heavy rationing of petrol and long lines have formed in front of shops selling LPG. Headline inflation hit 54.6% last month and the central bank has warned it could rise to 70% in the coming months.
The president’s elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister in May after protests against the family turned violent. He hid at a military base in the east of the country for a few days before returning to Colombo.
In May, the Rajapaksa government appointed the speaker of the Maldivian parliament and a former president, Mohamed Nasheed, to help coordinate foreign aid to beleaguered Sri Lanka.
In the same month, Nasheed publicly denied allegations that he was helping Mahinda Rajapaksa build a safe haven in the Maldives.
Media reports in the Maldives said the Sri Lankan president had arrived in the country early on Wednesday, although Reuters was unable to independently confirm this.
A Maldivian government spokesman did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
On Tuesday, Sri Lankan immigration officials barred Basil Rajapaksa from leaving the country.
It was unclear where Basil Rajapaksa, who holds US citizenship, was trying to go. He resigned as finance minister in early April amid heavy street protests and gave up his seat in parliament in June.