Sri Lankan President Rajapakse departed by plane
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, contested by a majority of the people, was able to fly out of Sri Lanka on Wednesday after his initial defeat on Tuesday.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence occupied by residents in Colombo on July 11, 2022.
AFP
Ridiculed by a strong popular movement, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left his country early Wednesday on a military plane bound for the Maldives.
The 73-year-old leader, who vowed to step down and tried unsuccessfully to leave the country on Tuesday, left Colombo International Airport with his wife and a bodyguard in the Antanov-32, immigration officials told AFP. Services. “Their passports were stamped and they boarded this special air force plane,” an immigration official told AFP.
According to airport sources, the plane was stopped on the airport tarmac for over an hour for clearance to land in the Maldives. “There were moments of panic, but in the end everything went well,” an airport official said on condition of anonymity, as the plane was about to land at the airport. Male International Airport.
On Tuesday, the president was humiliatingly turned away by immigration officials from Colombo airport and some of his advisers believed Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his entourage were fleeing in a patrol boat, a senior security source said. A naval ship was used to transfer the head of state on Saturday from the presidential palace, which was besieged by protesters, to the port of Trincomalee in the country’s northeast.
VIP Lounge
Later, Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived at the Colombo International Airport yesterday Monday by helicopter. But on Tuesday, immigration officials denied him access to the VIP lounge for his passport to be stamped, while the head of state chose to avoid opening the terminal to the public for fear of public reaction.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still out of the presidency, as he has yet to step down, as he promised to do on Wednesday for a “peaceful transition of power”. Having missed four flights that could have taken them to the UAE, the head of state and his wife spent the night at a military base near the international airport from Monday to Tuesday.
His younger brother Basil, who resigned as finance minister in April, missed his flight to Dubai after a similar run-in with immigration. He tried to use the paid concierge service for business travelers, but airport and immigration officials announced the cancellation of the express service with immediate effect.
Money
“Some other passengers objected to Basil boarding their flight,” an airport official told AFP. Due to the tense situation, he hurriedly left the airport. A diplomatic source said the Rajapaksa family fled amid an attack by thousands of protesters on Saturday as Basil, who has US citizenship, was about to leave him at the presidential palace and apply for a new passport.
In this leak, the Sri Lankan president left behind a suitcase full of documents and 17.85 million rupees (about 49,000 francs) in cash, now sealed. If the head of state resigns as promised, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will automatically be appointed as interim president until the end of the current term, i.e. until November 2024, when parliament elects a member of parliament.
However, Ranil Wickremesinghe has also been challenged by demonstrators who have camped in front of the Presidential Secretariat for more than three months demanding the President’s resignation due to the unprecedented economic crisis in the country. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of mismanaging the economy, leading to the country’s inability, short of foreign exchange, to finance the most essential imports for a population of 22 million.
Colombo defaulted on its $51 billion (FRF50 billion) foreign debt in April. Sri Lanka has almost exhausted its petrol reserves. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce travel and save fuel.
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