The 73 -year -old leader, who promised to resign and tried Tuesday without success to leave the country, took off early Wednesday from Colombo International Airport.
Le Monde
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaka, conspired by a strong popular movement, posed, Wednesday July 13, in the Maldives after leaving his country aboard a military plane.
The 73 -year -old leader, who promised to resign and tried Tuesday without success to leave Sri Lanka, took off early Wednesday from Colombo International Airport with his wife and a bodyguard aboard a Antonov-32, Immigration Services officials reported to the France-Presse.
An official of Malé airport, the capital of the Maldives, said around 12:30 am (Paris time) on Wednesday that the plane had arisen and that the three passengers had been taken under police escort to a destination for the moment unknown.
According to Sri Lankan airport sources, the device was retained for more than an hour on the tarmac of the airport awaiting an authorization to land in the Maldives.
Tuesday, Mr. Rajapaksa was repressed from Colombo airport by immigration agents and some of his advisers had considered for him and his relatives a leak aboard a patrol ship, according to a source high placed in the defense field.
A navy ship had been used to transfer the head of state of the presidential palace besieged by the demonstrators to the port of Trincomalee on Saturday in the northeast of the country. Then, Mr. Rajapaksa joined the Colombo International Airport on Monday. 2>
suitcase filled with 17.85 million rupees
Having not yet resigned, what he promised to do Wednesday for a “peaceful transition of power”, Mr. Rajapaksa still benefits from presidential immunity.
In this leak, the Sri Lankan president left behind a suitcase filled with documents and 17.85 million rupees (49,000 euros) in cash, now under seal.
If the head of state resigns as promised, Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, will be automatically appointed acting president until the parliament of a deputy who will exercise power until the end of the mandate in progress, that is to say November 2024.
Named in May by Sri Lankan President to replace his own brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mr. Wickremesinghe is however also disputed by the demonstrators who have been camping before the presidential secretariat for more than three months to request the resignation of the president due to of the unprecedented economic crisis that the country goes through.
m. Rajapaksa is accused of having poorly managed the economy, leading to the inability of the country, in lack of foreign currency, of finance the most essential imports to a population of 22 million inhabitants. Colombo was lacking on its external debt of $ 51 billion in April and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for possible bailout.
Sri Lanka has also almost exhausted its fuel reserves. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce travel and save fuel.