Sri Lanka yesterday was in a political vacuum for a second day, with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters, angry over the country’s economic woes.
Protesters remained in Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence, his seaside office and the prime minister’s official home, which they took possession of on Saturday demanding the leaders step down. It was the biggest and most eventful day of protests over the past three months surrounding the administrative district in Colombo.
They remained there yesterday saying they would stay until the resignations are official.
Photo: AP
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday said that he would leave office once a new government is in place. Hours later the speaker of the parliament said that Rajapaksa would step down tomorrow, which Wickremesinghe’s office yesterday said that Rajapaksa had confirmed.
The president has not been seen or heard publicly since Saturday and his location is unknown, but his office on Sunday said that he ordered the immediate distribution of a cooking gas consignment to the public, suggesting that he was still at work.
Pressure on both men had grown as the economic meltdown set off acute shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to obtain food, fuel and other necessities.
Opposition party leaders have been discussing forming an alternative all-party government, an urgent requirement of bankrupt nations to continue discussions with the IMF for a bailout program.
Sri Lankan lawmaker Udaya Gammanpila said the main opposition United National Party and lawmakers who have defected Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition have had discussions and agreed to work together.
Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Dullas Alahapperuma, who was a minister under Rajapaksa, have been proposed for president and prime minister, and they were requested to decide on how to share the positions before a meeting with the parliament speaker later yesterday.
“We can’t be in an anarchical condition. We have to somehow reach a consensus today,” Gammanpila said.
Opposition parties are also concerned over military leaders making statements on public security in the absence of a civil administration.
Lawmakers discussed having Sri Lankan Chief of Defense Staff General Shavendra Silva make a public statement calling on the people’s cooperation to maintain law and order, said Kavinda Makalanda, spokesperson for Premadasa.
“A civil administration is the need, not the military in a democratic country,” Makalanda said.
If opposition parties fail to form a government by the time Rajapaksa resigns, Wickremesinghe would become acting president under the constitution. However, in line with the protesters’ demand, opposition parties are keen on not allowing him take over even as acting president.
They say Wickremesinghe should promptly resign and allow Sri Lankan Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena take over as acting president — the next in line according to the constitution.
Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in an effort to solve the shortages and start economic recovery, but delays in solving the shortages turned public anger against him with protesters accusing him of protecting the president.
Wickremesinghe had been part of crucial talks with the IMF for a bailout program and with the World Food Program to prepare for a predicted food crisis. The government must submit a plan on debt sustainability to the IMF in August before reaching an agreement.
Sri Lanka is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the IMF. Wickremesinghe said recently that negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.
Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its foreign debt amounts to US$51 billion, of which it must repay US$28 billion by the end of 2027.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in