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Tag: Gotabaya Rajapaksa

  • Inferior oil blamed for Sri Lanka power cuts

    A senior Sri Lankan official has attributed the shutdown of a power plant that resulted in prolonged outages to imports of crude oil of poor grade.

    The oil used in the furnaces, according to utility regulator chief Janaka Ratnayake, contained an excessive amount of sulphur.

    But the country’s energy minister has disputed the allegation.

    Last week, Sri Lanka increased its daily power outage from 80 minutes to 140 minutes because of a drop in power generating capacity.

    “Sulphur content is too high in the furnace oil [fuel oil] which is not suitable for the current power plants and it’s also not conforming with environmental standards,” Mr Ratnayake, the head of the Public Utilities Commission, told the BBC.

    “If you buy good quality crude oil for refineries, then this problem will not happen.”

    Mr Ratnayake said about 10% of the country’s electricity came from diesel and fuel oil power plants. The rest of the electricity is generated from hydro, renewable, and coal-powered plants.

    But Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara defended the crude oil import policy.

    In a tweet, he said Sri Lanka’s state-run fuel retailer, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, would respond legally to Mr Ratnayake’s allegation.

    According to Mr Wijesekara, the power cut was extended because of a breakdown at one of the hydro-power stations and insufficient funds for diesel and fuel oil.

    The South Asian nation has been facing its worst financial crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948. It is struggling to find enough dollars to import fuel and food.

    The shortages led to months of anti-government protests and long queues outside petrol stations.

    In July, the unrest came to a head when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country and then resign after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence.

    Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe was subsequently elected by MPs as president.

    Since then, the government has introduced a ration system for fuel using a QR code that has reduced the queues outside petrol stations.

    Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund for an emergency loan of $2.9bn (£2.7bn) and it expects the deal to be approved by the IMF board by the end of this year.

    But the conditions include Colombo reaching an agreement with its creditors on debt restructuring. Sri Lanka has about $50bn of external debt.

  • Seven weeks after fleeing, the former president of Sri Lanka returns

    In the early hours of Saturday, Gotabaya Rajapaksa returned home after fleeing the nation in July due to its catastrophic economic position.

    He had gotten aboard an air force plane with his wife, two bodyguards, and a destination of the Maldives before continuing on to Singapore, where he formally resigned, and Thailand.

    It was believed that he planned to depart the nation before quitting because presidents in Sri Lanka are only shielded from arrest while in office, not after they leave.

    Mr Rajapaksa returned to Colombo’s Bandaranaike international airport on Saturday from Bangkok.

    The economic crisis has seen shortages of staples such as cooking oil, fuel, and medicine for months; while foreign debt amounts to more than £44bn, of which £24bn has to be repaid by 2027.

     

    The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been among the factors, but many blame the once-powerful Rajapaksa family for mismanaging the economy and tipping it into crisis.
    Around the time that Mr Rajapaksa departed, his brother resigned as prime minister, and three other family members stepped down as cabinet members.
    On Tuesday, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over as president, reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a £2.5bn bailout over four years.
    The package is aimed at helping Sri Lanka recover from the economic meltdown.

  • Sri Lanka swears in Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting leader after mass protests

    Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as acting president as the country reels from an economic crisis and unrest.

    He replaces Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled to Singapore after unprecedented mass protests which saw demonstrators overrun the presidential palace.

    Protesters defied a curfew to celebrate his resignation during the night.

    Sri Lanka is experiencing economic chaos as it faces an acute shortage of food, fuel and other basic supplies.

    The process of parliament electing a new president will begin on Saturday, with MPs likely to take a vote in a week’s time.

    Given the governing party has a majority, MPs are thought likely to back Mr Wickremesinghe, who has close links with the Rajapaksa family.

    But whether Sri Lanka’s public would accept this is another matter, because Mr Wickremesinghe’s resignation as PM was a key demand of protestors.

    Earlier this week, crowds stormed the former prime minister’s compound, clashing with security forces.

    A demonstrator, Manuri Pabasari, told the BBC at the time that a protest rally against Ranil Wickremesinghe was expected in the coming days.

    “He has no people’s mandate [and] is a well known Rajapaksa supporter,” she added. “I mean the new president and the new prime minister should be not a Rajapaksa supporter.”

    The governor of Sri Lanka’s central bank, Nandalal Weerasinghe, has warned the country may shut down if no stable government is formed soon.

    There was a “lot of uncertainty” over whether enough foreign exchange can be found to pay for essential petroleum, he told the BBC’s Newsnight programme, and progress on getting an international bailout package depended on having a stable administration.

    Meanwhile, Singapore says the ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa did not ask for political asylum when he arrived there.

    The former president, who arrived with his wife and two bodyguards, no longer has legal immunity as a head of state and his position is now more precarious as he tries to find a safe country to shelter in.

    He is expected to stay in Singapore for some time before possibly moving to the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lankan security sources told AFP news agency.

    Source: BBC

  • Sri Lanka political dynasty ends as Rajapaksa quits

    Sri Lanka’s parliament has accepted ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation, ending rule by a family that wielded power for nearly 20 years.

    Mr Rajapaksa quit after fleeing to Singapore amid mass protests over his mismanagement of the economy.

    Sri Lanka is in the grip of economic chaos as it faces an acute shortage of food, fuel and other basic supplies.

    Mr Rajapaksa’s resignation paves the way for the country to begin the process of electing a new president.

    Sri Lanka’s speaker of parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, said on Friday that he accepted Mr Rajapaksa’s resignation, which he received late on Thursday.

    He has called for parliament to convene on Saturday to start the process of electing a new leader. PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as acting president.

    Parliament has up to a month to elect a new leader, who could be Mr Wickremesinghe.

    Mr Rajapaksa fled to Singapore on Thursday from the Maldives, as huge protests roiled Sri Lanka. He is believed to have wanted to leave Sri Lanka before stepping down in order to avoid the possibility of arrest under a new administration.

    The embattled leader arrived in Singapore earlier on Thursday after first flying to the Maldives on Tuesday night. Reports say he is accompanied by his wife and two bodyguards.

    Singapore’s foreign ministry said Mr Rajapaksa had not asked for asylum or been granted asylum. “Singapore generally does not grant requests for asylum,” it added.

    Jubilation in the streets

    In the capital Colombo on Thursday, delighted demonstrators greeted news of the president’s departure with dancing.

    “We are beyond happy, but also beyond relieved so we can take a break and go back to our lives,” Viraga Perera told the BBC.

    Gotabaya Rajapaksa (file image)
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa defied calls for his resignation for months but has now fled

    But the crowds appeared smaller than before after Mr Wickremesinghe imposed a fresh round of curfews on Thursday to quell protests.

    The streets of Colombo were calmer as anti-government demonstrators began leaving some of the official buildings they had occupied.

    “We are peacefully withdrawing from the presidential palace, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister’s office with immediate effect, but will continue our struggle,” said a spokeswoman for the protesters.

    One person died and 84 others were injured during Wednesday’s protests, which took place at key landmarks around the capital, Colombo, including the prime minister’s office.

    Protesters broke into the presidential palace on Saturday and set fire to the prime minister’s private home.

    Police fired tear gas at protesters attempting to break down the gates of the prime minister’s office in Colombo, before finally forcing their way in. They later headed for parliament but did not get in.

    Wednesday saw some of the biggest demonstrations since the protests first began in April.

    Source: BBC