An anti-government protester watches a speech by Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his phone near the Sri Lankan presidential offices on May 11, 2022 in Colombo (AFP/Ishara S. KODIKARA)
After two days of deadly clashes, Sri Lanka’s contested President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced Wednesday that he would relinquish most of his executive powers and quickly appoint a new government, after a warning from the Central Bank that the economy was on the brink. of the collapse.
Since Monday, the violence accompanying the anti-government demonstrations has left nine dead and more than 225 injured, according to the police, in this island of 22 million inhabitants mired in the worst economic crisis in its history.
The population is overwhelmed by months of power cuts and severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Peaceful protests have been calling for the president’s resignation for weeks.
In his first statement to the country since the start of the protests, Mr. Rajapaksa, 72, who enjoys sweeping powers and command of the armed forces, promised the formation of a unity government in the coming days.
“I will appoint a prime minister who will lead a majority in parliament and inspire confidence in the people,” he said. He did not name the successor to the former prime minister, his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who resigned on Monday.
“I will work to empower parliament and activate key elements of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution,” the president added, referring to the democratic reforms he rolled back shortly after his election in 2019.
This promise to restore the 19th Amendment would strip Mr. Rajapaksa of the power to control appointments at the highest levels of the civil service, the police, the electoral services and the judiciary.
Earlier in the day, the main opposition party, the SJB, had already reaffirmed that it would not participate in a government under the authority of the current president.
“The violence is provoked (by the authorities) in order to establish a military regime”, wrote on Twitter the leader of the opposition, Sajith Premadasa, demanding that “the rule of law” be “maintained by the constitution and not by ARMS”.
– Untenable situation –
Soldiers patrol the streets of Colombo on May 11, 2022 (AFP/ISHARA S. KODIKARA)
A curfew is in effect across the country. In Colombo, thousands of soldiers transported in armored personnel carriers patrolled the deserted streets, with instructions to shoot on sight anyone attacking property or committing acts of violence. Only a few demonstrators defied the curfew by maintaining their camp in front of the offices of the presidency.
“It is no longer a question of spontaneous anger, but of organized violence,” a senior police official told AFP.
A burnt bus in a street in Colombo on May 11, 2022 (AFP/ISHARA S. KODIKARA)
Sri Lanka’s top defense official, Kamal Gunaratne, has ruled out a military coup, saying he asked the military to help the police because of the “dangerousness of the situation”.
“When there is a dangerous situation in the country, the powers are given to the military to resolve it,” he said. “Never think that we are trying to take over.”
A few hours before the presidential speech, the governor of the Central Bank, Nandalal Weerasinghe, had deemed the situation untenable.
“If there is no government in the next two days, the economy will collapse and no one can save it,” he warned. “I will resign if there is no immediate action to form a government.”
Monday’s resignation of the prime minister and brother of the president has created a power vacuum, the governor argued, adding that the ensuing violence has derailed his economic recovery plans.
Police officers check a vehicle on a street in Colombo on May 11, 2022 in Sri Lanka (AFP/ISHARA S. KODIKARA)
After a luxury hotel owned by a member of the Rajapaksa clan in the south of the country was set on fire late Tuesday night, police fired in several places in the air to disperse crowds who were burning vehicles.
– “So corrupt” –
Government supporters, transported from the provinces to Colombo by bus and galvanized by the Prime Minister, set fire to the powder Monday by attacking anti-Rajapaksa demonstrators. The attack led to the resignation of the head of government, also leader of the Rajapaksa clan, a few hours later.
Sri Lanka (AFP/)
Shortly before dawn on Tuesday, he had to be exfiltrated by the army from his official residence, besieged in Colombo by a furious mob.
This resignation is “an important event”, said Kaushalya Fernando, actress and human rights activist. But “that’s not enough”, she insisted: “we want the departure of the entire Rajapaksa clan, they are so corrupt”.
Echoing calls from the United Nations and the European Union, the United States expressed concern about the escalation of violence and the deployment of the army.
Soldiers at a roadblock in a street in Colombo on May 11, 2022 in Sri Lanka (AFP/ISHARA S. KODIKARA)
“Peaceful protesters should never be subjected to violence or intimidation,” Ned Price, spokesman for the US State Department, said on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka, in default since April 12 on its external debt, estimated at 51 billion dollars, is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a possible bailout.
“We are closely monitoring the development of the situation (…) and are concerned about the rise in social tensions and violence,” said Masahiro Nozaki, head of the IMF mission in Sri Lanka.
© 2022 AFP
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