COLOMBO, July 12 —Sri Lanka’s president was considering using a navy patrol craft to flee the island Tuesday following a humiliating standoff with airport immigration, official sources said.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the presidential palace in Colombo under naval protection on Saturday, shortly before tens of thousands of protesters overran the compound.
Hours later, the parliamentary speaker announced Rajapaksa would resign tomorrow to allow a “peaceful transition of power”.
The 73-year-old leader had taken refuge at a navy facility in the island’s northeast, a top defence official said, adding that he was brought to the Katunayake airbase adjoining the country’s main international airport.
“He and his entourage were flown back to Colombo in two Bell 412 choppers,” the official added.
There was no official word from the president’s office about his whereabouts, and several local media reports speculated he was set to leave for Dubai later yesterday.
But four commercial flights subsequently took off for Middle Eastern destinations without him, airport officials said.
Immigration officers were refusing to go to the VIP suite to stamp his passport, while he insisted he would not go through the public facilities, they added — a humiliating stand-off for the leader once known as ‘The Terminator’.
A military source said Rajapaksa, who remains the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, had the option of travelling in an air force aircraft.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said Rajapaksa had officially informed him of the president’s intention to resign, without specifying a date.
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