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Sri Lanka’s former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country in July after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his home and in a protest of anger over the country’s economic crisis, returned to the country after seven weeks.
Rajapaksa flew to Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport on Friday from Bangkok via Singapore. After being greeted by lawmakers from his party, Rajapaksa left the airport in a procession heavily guarded by armed infantrymen and arrived at a government-owned space that had been assigned to him as a former president. in the center of the capital, Colombo.
On July 13, the deposed leader, his wife and two bodyguards set off in an air force for the Maldives, before heading to Singapore, from where he officially resigned. He flew to Thailand two weeks later.
Rajapaksa has no pending trial or arrest warrant opposing him. The only court case he faced for alleged corruption while he was secretary of the Defense Ministry under the presidency of his older brother was dropped when he was elected president in 2019 due to constitutional immunity.
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In months, Sri Lanka has been grappling with its worst economic crisis, which sparked common protests and unprecedented public anger that eventually forced Rajapaksa and his brother, the former prime minister, to resign. The scenario in the bankrupt country has worsened through global points. like the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, many blame the once-powerful Rajapaksa circle of relatives for the severe mismanagement of the economy and the plunge into crisis.
The economic collapse has for months led to shortages of goods such as fuel, medicine and cooking fuel due to severe foreign exchange shortages. Although the source of cooking fuel has been restored thanks to the support of the World Bank, shortages of fuel, medicines and some pieces of food persist.
The island country has suspended payment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt owed this year. The country’s total external debt amounts to more than $51 billion, of which $28 billion will be paid off until 2027.
On Tuesday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office after Rajapaksa’s resignation, and his management reached an initial agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a four-year$ 2. 9 billion bailout for the country’s recovery.
Rajapaksa, a former army officer, was elected on a promise to revive the country’s economy and ensure national security after Islamic State-inspired bombings killed another 270 people in churches and hotels on Easter Sunday 2019. He renounced his U. S. citizenship when he contested the election. because the legislation of the time forbade dual citizens to exercise political functions.
As a senior defence official, he is accused of overseeing human rights abuses through the military during the country’s three-decade civil war with now-defeated Tamil rebels fighting for an independent state for the country’s ethnic Tamil minority.
In April, protesters began camping outside the president’s workplace in central Colombo and chanted “Drop, go home,” a call for Rajapaksa’s resignation, which temporarily became the movement’s rallying cry.
The protests have dismantled Rajapaksa’s circle of family members’ control over politics. Before Rajapaksa resigned, his older brother resigned as prime minister and 3 other members of his immediate circle of relatives left positions in the closet.
But the country’s new president, Wickremesinghe, has since cracked down on the protests. His first action as a leader was to dismantle the protest tents in the middle of the night when police forcibly evicted protesters from the site and attacked them.
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There is genuine concern among others who need to protest now, said Bhavani Fonseksa of the independent think tank Center for Policy Alternatives.
“It remains to be seen if other people will take to the streets again to protest, especially since there has been so much repression since Ranil Wickremesing came to power. Several protesters have been arrested, so there is genuine fear,” he said. .
Dayan Jayatilleka, a former diplomat and political analyst, said the ruling SLPP party would welcome him, but he did not believe his return would cause other people to flood the streets again. “They will be bitter, it’s still too early for him to come back,” he said.
“There is no way for Gotabaya to be forgiven for his transgressions, but I think there is now more bitterness than public anger waiting for him,” Jayatilleka added.
For Nazly Hameem, an organizer who helped lead the protest movement, the former president’s return is a challenge “as long as he is held accountable. “
“He is a citizen of Sri Lanka, so no one can stop him from returning. But as someone who needs justice to be done in opposition to the corrupt system, I would like action to be taken: for there to be justice, they register a complaint in opposition to him and hold him accountable for what he has done in this country.
“Our slogan ‘Gota, pass home’: we didn’t expect him to flee, we looked for him to resign. As long as he doesn’t get involved in active politics, it won’t be a problem. “
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