Sri Lanka Sri Lanka crisis: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to leave Male for Singapore
Male/UNI: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who flew in here before dawn on Wednesday, is set to leave the Indian Ocean atoll nation Thursday, apparently to Singapore, media reports said.
A private jet has been provided to the President and is now parked at Male's Velana International Airport, the reports said.
A section of the news reports, however, speculated that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has been virtually on the run since fleeing his country in the wake of mass protests, may head to Dubai or Saudi Arabia.
International media has reported that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been assured that Singapore will provide safety to him and his wife, both of whom took a Sri Lankan Air Force jet to reach the Maldives after realising that he would not be able to fly out of the international airport near Colombo.
The media reports quoted "trusted sources" as saying that Gotabaya Rajapaksa met Maldivian Parliament Speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed on Thursday morning.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose President's House was taken over on July 9 by anti-government protesters and remains in their possession, had pledged to resign from the post of Presidency on Wednesday.
He is yet to give his resignation but has declared Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting President.
The Maldivian decision to award the fleeing President sanctuary has come under widespread criticism from Sri Lankans living here as well as a section of Maldivians.
Rajapaksa is staying in Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, a property owned by business tycoon Mohamed Ali Janah, a close associate of Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid.
The Maldivian government is yet to comment on the issue. But on Wednesday, Maldivian security forces cracked down on Sri Lankans and locals protesting against Rajapaksa.
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