Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country early on Wednesday.
Colombo:
Sri Lanka’s beleaguered president walked out of his country early Wednesday, in a possible prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests over the island nation’s worst economic crisis.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for a “peaceful transition of power” over the weekend, just before it was toppled by tens of thousands of protesters from his official residence in Colombo.
As president, Rajapaksa is exempt from arrest, and is believed to have wanted to go abroad before leaving office to avoid the prospect of being taken into custody.
According to immigration sources, he, his wife and a bodyguard were among four passengers on board the Antonov-32 military plane that had left the main international airport for neighboring Maldives.
“Their passport was stamped and they boarded the special Air Force flight,” an immigration official involved in the process told AFP.
The departure of the 73-year-old leader, once known as ‘The Terminator’, was halted for more than 24 hours in a humiliating standoff with immigration personnel at the airport.
He wanted to fly to Dubai on a commercial flight, but Bandaranaike International’s staff withdrew from VIP services and insisted that all passengers pass through public counters.
The presidential entourage was reluctant to go through regular channels, a security official said, and as a result on Monday missed four flights that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates.
A security official said clearance for a military flight to land in nearest neighbor India was not immediately safe, and at one point on Tuesday the group headed for a naval base with a view to fleeing the seas.
Rajapaksa’s youngest brother Basil, who resigned as finance minister in April, missed his Emirates flight to Dubai in the early hours of Tuesday because of his own tense standoff with airport staff.
Basil – who has US citizenship in addition to Sri Lankan nationality – tried to use a paid concierge service for business travelers, but airport and immigration staff said he had withdrawn from the fast-track service.
– Unity Government –
A diplomatic source said Basil had to obtain a new US passport after leaving behind him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when Rajapaksa made a hasty return on Saturday to avoid crowds.
Official sources said a suitcase full of documents along with Rs 17.85 million (about $50,000) in cash was also left in the luxurious mansion, which is now in the custody of a Colombo court.
There was no official word from the office of the President about his whereabouts, but he remained the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces with military resources at his disposal.
Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to such an extent that the country has run out of foreign exchange for even the most essential imports, causing serious problems for its 22 million population.
If he steps down as promised, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will automatically become acting president until parliament elects an MP for the presidency, which expires in November 2024.
But Wickremesinghe himself has announced that he will step down if it is agreed to form a unity government.
The process of succession can take up to three days – the minimum time required to convene a parliament – and the maximum is 30 days allowed under the statute. The parliamentary speaker has said that if Rajapaksa resigns on Wednesday, the vote will be held on July 20.
Sajith Premadasa, leader of the main opposition Samagi Jan Balvegaya Party, which lost to Rajapaksa in the 2019 presidential election, has said that he will stand for the post.
Premadasa is the son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated in May 1993 in a Tamil rebel suicide bombing.
Sri Lanka defaulted on $51 billion of its foreign debt in April and is in talks with the IMF for possible relief.
The island has almost exhausted its already scarce supply of petrol. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce traffic and save fuel.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)