COLOMBO (National Times) – Sri Lanka s embattled president flew out of his country to the Maldives early Wednesday, in a probable prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests against his island nation s worst-ever economic crisis.<\/p>\n
Gotabaya Rajapaksa had promised at the weekend to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for a “peaceful transition of power” after fleeing his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it.<\/p>\n
As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.<\/p>\n
He, his wife and a bodyguard were among four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft which took off from Sri Lanka s main international airport, immigration sources told AFP.<\/p>\n
On arrival in the Maldives they were driven to an undisclosed location under police escort, an airport official in Male said.<\/p>\n
The departure of the 73-year-old leader once known as The Terminator had been stymied for more than 24 hours in a humiliating stand-off with immigration personnel in Colombo.<\/p>\n
He had wanted to fly to Dubai on a commercial flight, but staff at Bandaranaike International withdrew from VIP services and insisted that all passengers had to go through public counters.<\/p>\n
The presidential party were reluctant to go through regular channels fearing public reactions, a security official said, and as a result, missed four flights on Monday that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
Clearance for a military flight to land in the closest neighbour India was not immediately secured, a security official said, and at one point on Tuesday the group headed to a naval base with a view to fleeing by sea.<\/p>\n
Rajapaksa s youngest brother Basil, who resigned in April as finance minister, missed his own Emirates flight to Dubai early Tuesday after a tense standoff of his own with airport staff.<\/p>\n
Basil — who holds US citizenship in addition to Sri Lankan nationality — tried to use a paid concierge service for business travellers, but airport and immigration staff said they had withdrawn from the fast track service.<\/p>\n
“There were some other passengers who protested against Basil boarding their flight,” an airport official told AFP. “It was a tense situation, so he hurriedly left the airport.”<\/p>\n
– Unity government –<\/p>\n
Basil had to obtain a new US passport after leaving his behind at the presidential palace when the Rajapaksas beat a hasty retreat to avoid mobs on Saturday, a diplomatic source said.<\/p>\n
Official sources said a suitcase full of documents had also been left behind at the stately mansion along with 17.85 million rupees (about $50,000) in cash, now in the custody of a Colombo court.<\/p>\n
There was no official word from the president s office about his whereabouts, but he remained commander-in-chief of the armed forces with military resources at his disposal.<\/p>\n
Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for the 22 million population.<\/p>\n
If he steps down as promised, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will automatically become acting president until parliament elects an MP to serve out the presidential term, which ends in November 2024.<\/p>\n
But Wickremesinghe has himself announced his willingness to step down if consensus is reached on forming a unity government.<\/p>\n
The succession process could take between three days — the minimum time taken to convene parliament — and a maximum of 30 days allowed under the statute. If Rajapaksa does step down on Wednesday, the vote would take place on July 20, the parliamentary speaker has said.<\/p>\n
The leader of the main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, Sajith Premadasa, who lost the 2019 presidential election to Rajapaksa, has said he will stand for the position.<\/p>\n
Premadasa is the son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated in a Tamil rebel suicide bombing in May 1993.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51-billion foreign debt in April and is in talks with the IMF for a possible bailout.<\/p>\n
The island has nearly exhausted its already scarce supplies of petrol. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce commuting and save fuel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COLOMBO (National Times) – Sri Lanka s embattled president flew out of his country to the Maldives early Wednesday, in a probable prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests against his island nation s worst-ever economic crisis. Gotabaya Rajapaksa had promised at the weekend to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n