Sri Lanka’s ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to end his self-imposed exile in Thailand and return home on Saturday, a senior defense official told AFP.
The 73-year-old fled the island under military guard in July after a large crowd stormed his official residence after months of angry public protests that blamed him for the island nation’s unprecedented economic crisis.
He issued his resignation from Singapore before flying on to Bangkok, where he asked his successor to facilitate his return.
“Living practically as a prisoner in a Thai hotel, he was dying to return,” the defense official, who asked not to be named, told AFP on Friday. “We have been told that he will return very early on Saturday.”
“We have just created a new security department to protect him upon his return on Saturday. The unit is made up of elements from the army and police commandos.”
Sri Lanka’s constitution guarantees former presidents bodyguards, a vehicle and accommodation.
Rajapaksa traveled to Thailand after Singapore refused to extend his 28-day visa, but security officials in Bangkok told him not to leave his hotel for his own safety.
The former president had a 90-day visa to stay in Thailand but chose to return with his wife, a bodyguard and another aide, the official said.
Rajapaksa’s youngest brother Basil, the former finance minister, met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe last month and asked for protection to allow the deposed leader’s return.
“Basil Rajapaksa asked the President to make arrangements for the return of the former President,” her Sri Lanka Party Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said in a statement.
Sri Lanka has endured months of acute food, fuel and medicine shortages, protracted power outages and runaway inflation after running out of foreign exchange to finance key imports.
The coronavirus pandemic has been a hammer blow to the island’s tourism industry, drying up remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad – both major foreign exchange earners.
Rajapaksa, elected in 2019 and promising “prospects of prosperity and splendor,” took a nosedive in popularity as troubles multiplied for the country’s 22 million people.
His government has been accused of instituting unsustainable tax cuts that pushed up public debt and deepened the crisis.
Rajapaksa’s resignation ended his immunity as president, which could lead to a resurgence of deadlocked corruption cases against the former leader.
Wickremesinghe was elected by Parliament to lead the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term. Since then he has cracked down on street protests and arrested leading activists.
