Strongman appears to oust Sri Lanka PM
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has been plunged into crisis after the country’s former strongman, who is accused of overseeing the deaths of thousands of civilians during its bloody civil war, apparently staged a dramatic political comeback.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president from 2004 to 2015, loaded Sri Lanka with debt from China during his pariah years and is expected to forge alliances with Beijing – if he is back as prime minister.
Maithripala Sirisena, the president, suspended parliament yesterday after announcing that he had sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and conducting a rushed oath-taking for Rajapaksa, the opposition leader.
But in a day of high drama, Wickremesinghe refused to leave the prime minister’s residence, insisting that he remained in office with the backing of the majority of MPS and that he would challenge Sirisena in court.
A cabinet ally denounced the ‘‘antidemocratic coup’’ as Rajapaksa supporters stormed the offices of media organisations that support Wickremesinghe.
Rajapaksa’s return is expected to shake up Asia’s balance of power as he embraced China when in office, while Wickremesinghe has pursued closer ties with India. As president, he borrowed heavily from Beijing to fund infrastructure projects while he was shunned by the West over allegations of widespread human rights abuses.
He racked up crippling debts, with funds lavished on grandiose Chinesebuilt projects, including an airport and seaport in his southern stronghold of Hambantota. There are no commercial flights to what has been called the ‘‘world’s emptiest airport’’ and few container vessels use the harbour.
After Rajapaksa was defeated at the polls in 2015, the new government struggled under the debt legacy until it was forced to hand over control of the port to a Chinese company last December – to the alarm of India and America.
There was pressure for Rajapaksa to face justice for the killings of tens of thousands of civilians in a so-called ‘‘no fire zone’’ at the end of the brutal civil war with the Tamil Tigers, a fanatical group that pioneered the use of suicide bombers and child soldiers.
He and his family also faced allegations of rampant corruption and involvement with the murder political critics. But he remained popular with large factions of the majority Sinhalese Buddhist population and his party performed strongly at recent local elections.
Sirisena, who was health minister under Rajapaksa from 2010 to 2014, had joined forces with Wickremesinghe to defeat the former president three years ago.
Their coalition pledged an end to corruption and accountability for alleged atrocities. But ties became frayed and Sirisena accused Wickremesinghe of being slow to investigate an alleged assassination plot against him. Yesterday’s (Saturday’s) drama followed the arrest of a senior police official over the plot. Rajapaksa has denied the various accusations levelled at him. – The Times