Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves Maldives for Singapore, Saudi Arabia next

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left Maldives for Singapore, from where he will head to Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reported.

The 73-year-old leader boarded a Saudi Airlines plane on Wednesday that will take him to Singapore and then to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, a Maldives government official told AP.

Rajapaksa had left Sri Lanka on Wednesday morning with his wife and two bodyguards. He was welcomed at the airport by speaker Mohamed Nasheed. Rajapaksa fled the country on the day he was supposed to hand over his resignation.

His decision to step down came after the protesters stormed his presidential palace on Saturday, demanding he and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe step down.

However, the protesters have said they will vacate the government buildings seized by them during the protests.

"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," a spokesperson said.

With the resignation deadline already missed, the Sri Lankan speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said Rajapaksa should submit his resignation or he would be forced to consider other options to remove him, PTI had reported.

He said that since an acting President has been appointed, the Office of the Speaker is exploring the legal provisions to consider the option of "have vacated his post" if the President does not tender in his letter of resignation, the report by News First Lanka added.

- Hindustan Times