President sri-Lankan Gotabaya Rajapaksa was transferred on Monday July 11 to an air base near the international airport, officials announced, fueling the hypothesis of a flight abroad.
After having fled the besieged presidential palace on Saturday by protesters, Gotabaya Rajapaksa found refuge in navy facilities before being taken to Katunayake air base, which is within the same perimeter as the country’s main airport, Bandaranaike, a senior military official said. Defense at AFP. The office of the presidency did not communicate Monday on the situation of the head of state, but several local media advanced that he would prepare to leave for Dubai.
Four commercial flights to the Middle East, however, took off without him, airport officials said. Immigration officials refused to go to the VIP suite to stamp his passport, while Mr Rajapaksa denied him access to public areas, they added, a humiliating situation. According to a military source, he remains the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and still has the option of traveling on an air force plane.
Images showing men with heavy suitcases boarding a military ship have circulated widely on social networks, but no certainty that it was indeed the head of state on the run.
Before recanting, the Speaker of Parliament said in a BBC interview that Rajapaksa had gone abroad but would be back on Wednesday to hand in his resignation on July 13 as promised. If all goes as planned, the prime minister hopes to form a government of national unity. On July 20, Parliament will elect the new president. The demonstrators have already warned that they will not give up their fight before the departure of all the current political class.
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There is still a fairly clear political project which would consist of setting up a kind of cabinet of public safety during the period which will actually extend between the resignation of the president and the organization of new elections.
Eric-Paul Meyer, historian and specialist in Sri Lanka