Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa departs for Singapore from Maldives

World

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who arrived in Male, the capital of the Maldives, when violent riots broke out in Sri Lanka, left for Singapore today.

Rajapaksa departed the Maldives and is currently flying on a private plane to Singapore, according to a source quoted by the Daily Mirror. As per reports, Rajapaksa’s private plane had already arrived in Male in preparation for his departure from the island nation for Singapore.

Rajapaksa along with his wife Ioma Rajapaksa, and two security personnel were supposed to board a Singapore Airlines aircraft last night from Male to Singapore but did not do so as planned because of security concerns.

After large throngs of demonstrators surrounded his home on July 9, 73-year-old Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled and declared he will submit his resignation letter on Wednesday.

Later, Rajapaksa and his wife managed to get away to the Maldives. He then named Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister of Sri Lanka, as the country’s acting president.

The government communications department in Sri Lanka declared that a curfew will be in effect in the Colombo District from 12 p.m. today until 5 a.m. tomorrow.

In an effort to bring about peace in the nation, “GotaGoGama” demonstrators earlier in the day said that they would peacefully turn over any government-occupied structures, including the President’s residence, the Presidential Secretariat, and the Prime Minister’s office.