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Sri Lanka’s former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled the country in July after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his home and office to express anger over the country’s economic crisis, threatening him in seven weeks. return to the country.
Rajapaksa was flying from Bangkok to Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport via Singapore around midnight on Friday. After being greeted by party lawmakers, Rajapaksa left the airport in a heavily guarded convoy of armed soldiers to a house in the heart of the capital Colombo, which was allocated to his government by the former president.
On July 13, the ousted leader, his wife and two bodyguards boarded an Air Force plane bound for the Maldives and then to Singapore, where he officially resigned. He flew to Thailand two weeks later.
Rajapaksa has no court case or arrest warrant against him. The only court case he was facing for alleged corruption during his time as the secretary to the ministry of defense under his older brother’s presidency was withdrawn when he was elected president in 2019 because of constitutional immunity.
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Sri Lanka has been in the midst of its worst economic crisis for months, sparking extraordinary protests and unprecedented public outrage that culminated in the ouster of Rajapaksa and his brother, the former prime minister. Global factors such as the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have made things worse in the bankrupt country, but many believe the once-powerful Rajapaksa family was responsible for the gross mismanagement that plunged it into crisis.
The economic collapse has left necessities such as fuel, medicines and gas in short supply for months due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange. While supplies of cooking gas have been restored through World Bank support, shortages of fuel, critical medicines and some food items have continued.
The island nation has suspended repayments of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due this year. The country’s total foreign debt exceeds $51 billion, of which $28 billion must be repaid by 2027.
On Tuesday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over after Rajapaksa resigned, and his government agreed a four-year $2.9 billion bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A tentative deal is planned to help the country recover.
Rajapaksa, a former military officer, was elected on promises to uplift the country’s economy and ensure national security after Islamic State-inspired bomb attacks killed some 270 people in churches and hotels on Easter Sunday 2019. He relinquished his American citizenship when he contested the election Because the law at the time made dual citizens ineligible for political office.
A senior defense official, he is accused of overseeing human rights abuses by the military during the country’s three-year civil war with the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for independence for the country’s ethnic minority Tamil nation.
In April, protesters began camping outside the presidential office in central Colombo and chanting “Gota, go home” demanding Rajapaksa’s resignation, which quickly became the movement’s slogan.
The demonstrations lifted the Rajapaksa family’s grip on politics. Before Rajapaksa’s resignation, his brother resigned as prime minister, and three other close family members also resigned from the cabinet.
But the country’s new president, Wickremesinghe, has since suppressed the protests. His first actions as leader included tearing down protest tents in the middle of the night as police forcibly removed demonstrators from the scene and attacked them.
Also read: IMF tentatively agrees $2.9bn loan to crisis-hit Sri Lanka
Bhavani Fonseksa of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, an independent think tank, said there was real fear among those who wanted to protest right now.
“It remains to be seen whether people will take to the streets to demonstrate again, especially since there has been so much repression since Ranil Wickremesinghe came to power. Several protesters have been arrested, so there is real fear,” she said. Say.
Dayan Jayatilleka, a former diplomat and political analyst, said the ruling SLPP party would welcome his return, but did not think his return would trigger a return to the streets. “They’re going to be sour – it’s too early for him to come back,” he said.
“Gotabaya’s crimes will never be forgiven, but I think there’s more pain than just public anger awaiting him now,” Jayatilka added.
For Nazli Hamim, an organizer who helped lead the protest movement, the former president’s return will not be a problem “as long as he is held accountable.”
“He is a Sri Lankan citizen, so no one can stop him from coming back. But as someone who wants justice for a corrupt system, I would like to see action – there should be justice, they should prosecute him and hold him accountable responsibility for everything the country does.”
“Our slogan is ‘go, go home’ – we didn’t expect him to run away, we want him to resign. As long as he doesn’t engage in active politics, it won’t be a problem.”
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