Sri Lanka’s beleaguered former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country after mass protests and resigned this month, is expected to return home, according to a cabinet minister.
Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka under the cover of darkness in a military plane earlier this month after protesters seized his house and presidential offices, demanding he resign.
He and his wife flew to the Maldives and then to Singapore, where he has remained ever since. Rajapaksa’s resignation letter was sent from Singapore to Sri Lanka and formally accepted by the Cabinet on 15 July.
Rajapaksa’s final destination has been the source of much speculation in the country after authorities in Singapore confirmed that he was there on a short-term visitor visa and had not applied for asylum.
Rajapaksa was thought to be planning to travel to the United Arab Emirates or waiting for a visa to the US, where his family lives and where he had citizenship before he became president and had to renounce it.
But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena gave the strongest indication yet that Rajapaksa intends to return to Sri Lanka and insisted the former president is not in hiding.
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“As far as I know, he is expected to come back,” Gunawardena said. He gave no timetable for Rajapaksa’s expected return.
Although there is still considerable public anger against Rajapaksa, who has been accused of economic mismanagement that plunged Sri Lanka into its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages crippling the island, the new government is not seen as hostile to him.
Newly appointed Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe is considered an ally of Rajapaksa. He has the support of Rajapaksa’s political party and has a cabinet filled with the same figures who served under the former president. Many are unconvinced that even though Rajapaksa no longer has immunity, Wickremesinghe’s government is likely to investigate and hold the former president accountable, as street protesters have been calling for.
Rajapaksa has not made a public statement or address since leaving the country. His older brother Mahinda, the former president and prime minister, still remains in the country, as does his younger brother Basil, the former finance minister, and other members of the Rajapaksa family who served in government.
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