‘Not the time for Rajapaksa to return’
Sri Lanka’s new president Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Sunday it was not the right time for former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return to the country as it could inflame political tensions, the Wall Street Journal reported (WSJ).
“I don’t believe it’s the time for him to return,” Wickremesinghe said in an interview with WSJ. “I have no indication of him returning soon.”
Rajapaksa, after facing calls to resign over his handling of the country, fled on July 13 and stepped down from his position.
Days later, Wickremesinghe won a vote in parliament to become the new president.
Wickremesinghe has remained in contact with Rajapaksa to deal with administrative handover issues and other government business, the WSJ said.
The crisis-hit country has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a bailout package.
Wickremesinghe expected the IMF staff-level agreement to be reached by the end of August, the report said, adding that Sri Lanka will have to secure upwards of $3 billion from other sources next year to support essential imports including fuel, food and fertilisers.
He also told the newspaper it would be months before Sri Lankans would see any marked improvement in their economic circumstances.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has extended a travel ban imposed on former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, ex-minister Basil Rajapaksa, until August 4 as they were named respondents in a case filed over the economic crisis, Ada Derana news website reported on Monday.
On July 27, the court had extended the ban until August 2.
Sri Lanka seeks urgent help to feed children
Sri Lanka issued an urgent appeal on Monday to tackle rapidly spreading malnutrition among children as its economic crisis leaves nine out of 10 people dependent on state handouts.
The Ministry for Women and Child Affairs said they were seeking private donations to feed possibly several hundred thousand children.
“When the Covid pandemic was at its peak, the problem was bad, but now, with the economic crisis, the situation is far worse,” secretary Neil Bandara Hapuhinne told reporters in Colombo.
Hapuhinne said they had counted 127,000 malnourished children among the 570,000 girls and boys below the age of five in mid-2021.