Gotabaya to return next week, claims Udayangana

Gotabaya Rajapaksa

PTI: Gotabaya Rajapaksa will return to Sri Lanka on 24 August, his cousin Udayanga Weeratunga said yesterday, over a month after the former President fled the country amid mass anti-Government protests over an unprecedented economic crisis.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is grappling with its worst economic turmoil in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. The massive protests that began in March culminated with Rajapaksa’s resignation.

“He talked to me on the phone, I can tell you he will return to the country next week,” said Weeratunga, who was Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia from 2006 to 2015.

Rajapaksa could return on 24 August, he said, adding that the ousted President should not be re-elected for political positions.

“But he can still do some service to the country as he had done previously,” Weeratunga said of the 73-year-old former Sri Lankan President.

Rajapaksa is currently staying at a hotel in Bangkok in the heart of Thailand’s capital, where Police have advised him to remain indoors for security reasons.

Rajapaksa arrived in Thailand from Singapore on 11 August on a charter flight for a temporary stay before seeking permanent asylum in another country. He arrived in Bangkok on the same day that his visa in Singapore expired.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had confirmed a temporary visit to Thailand by the 73-year-old embattled Sri Lankan leader for humanitarian reasons, and said he promised not to conduct political activities in the kingdom during his search for permanent asylum in another country.

The Sri Lankan Government had directly appealed on behalf of the ousted President and sought permission to allow him to seek temporary shelter in Thailand.