Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had fled to the Maldives on a military plane just hours before his resignation, after days of extraordinary scenes such as his presidential palace and office occupied by anti-government protesters.
The air force confirmed that Rajapaksa, his wife and two security guards boarded a military plane in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after invoking the executive authorities to allow his escape.
“Under the provisions of the constitution and at the request of the government, the Sri Lankan air force provided a plane early today to take the president, his wife and two security officials to the Maldives,” a statement said. .
Upon arrival in the capital of the Maldives, Male, at 3 a.m., they were greeted at the airport by President Mohammad Nasheed and his wife. It was thought that Rajapaksa would fly to the UAE.
At the time of his departure Wednesday morning, the president had not yet submitted the resignation letter. Anti-government protesters gave him until 1pm this Wednesday to resign, threatening mass riots otherwise.
Rajapaksa’s escape to the Maldives followed a dramatic 24 hours that saw him unsuccessfully try various means to leave the country. He was prevented from boarding a commercial flight to Dubai on Monday night after airport staff refused to seal his passport in the airport’s VIP area. India also refused to give permission for a military airport to transport it to land on its ground.
There was an apparent urgency on his part to leave the country before July 13, the date he has given for his resignation. While still president, Rajapaksa enjoys arrest immunity. Many protesters, activists and lawyers have called for him to be tried along with several relatives for alleged corruption and human rights violations in the two decades that have occupied power in Sri Lanka.
The president’s younger brother, Basil Rajapaksa, who served as finance minister, was also barred from boarding a flight to Dubai en route to the United States, where he has dual citizenship. It was also reported that Basil left the country on Tuesday night.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was elected in 2019, has been resisting calls for his resignation for months, as Sri Lanka has increasingly sunk into a financial crisis of which he is widely blamed. Rajapaksa and five family members who held senior government positions are accused of widespread corruption and economic mismanagement that left the country without foreign currency to import food, fuel and medicine, and brought inflation to record levels. According to the UN, the island of 22 million people is facing a humanitarian crisis.
Rajapaksa has been forced over the weekend to announce its intention to step down this week, after hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the city of Colombo and stormed the presidential palace and offices, as well as the residence. official of the Prime Minister. They have occupied the buildings ever since, refusing to leave until both Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have resigned.
According to the constitution, if Rajapaksa resigns on Wednesday, Wickremesinghe will be automatically put in his place. But this is very unpopular among anti-government protesters, who believe that Wickremesinghe, who took over as interim prime minister two months ago, was in charge of propping up the Rajapaksa regime. Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign when there is a unity government of all parties.
Opposition parties said the unity government had been agreed in principle, although it was unclear who the new prime minister would be. If Rajapaksa’s resignation goes ahead as planned, parliament will meet again on July 15 and deputies will vote on July 20 to decide the new president.