Political chaos persists amid crisis talks

COLOMBO (AP):

A weekend of political chaos in Sri Lanka stretched into Monday, with opposition leaders yet to agree on replacements for embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his prime minister, whose residences remain occupied by protesters angered over the country’s economic collapse.

Crowds of demonstrators overran Rajapaksa’s home, his seaside office and the official residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday and demanded that they step down in the most dramatic day of the three-month crisis. Leaders of two opposition parties held talks on Monday, but could not agree on their choices for president and prime minister.

Corruption and mismanagement have left the island nation laden with debt, unable to pay for imports of food, fuel, medicine and other necessities, causing widespread shortages and despair among its 22 million people. The country is seeking help from neighbouring India and China, and from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

VOW TO STAY UNTIL RESIGNATION

Rajapaksa has said he will step down on Wednesday, according to the speaker of the parliament. The protesters have vowed to stay until the resignations are official.

In a video statement on Monday, the first since the weekend protests, Wickremesinghe reiterated that he will stay on until a new government is in place because he wants to work within the constitution.

“A government has to function according to the law. I am here to protect the constitution and through it fulfil the people’s demands,” Wickremesinghe said. “What we need today is an all-party government and we will take steps to establish that.”

The president hasn’t been seen or heard from publicly since Saturday, and his location is unknown. But his office said on Sunday that he ordered the immediate distribution of a cooking gas consignment to the public, suggesting that he was still at work.

Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.

Wickremesinghe also explained the sequence of events that led to the burning of his private residence on Saturday. He said the protesters gathered around his house after a lawmaker, in what Wickremesinghe said was an inaccurate tweet, stated that he had refused to resign at a meeting of parliamentary party leaders.

The police charged with batons and fired tear gas, he said, adding: “The last option was to shoot. We did not shoot, but they came and burnt the house.”

A group of nine Cabinet ministers said on Monday they will quit immediately to make way for an all-party government, outgoing Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe said. Wickremesinghe’s office said another group that met with him decided to stay on until a new government is formed.

The talks by opposition party leaders to form an alternative unity government is an urgent requirement of a bankrupt nation to continue discussions with the IMF.

Lawmaker Udaya Gammanpila said the main opposition United People’s Front and lawmakers who have defected Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition have agreed to work together. Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Dullas Alahapperuma, who was a minister under Rajapaksa, have been proposed to take over as president and prime minister and had been asked to decide on how to share the positions before a meeting with the parliamentary speaker on Monday, but they did not reach an agreement.

“We can’t be in an anarchical condition. We have to somehow reach a consensus today,” Gammanpila said.

Opposition parties also are concerned about military leaders making statements on public security in the absence of a civil administration.

Lawmakers discussed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Shavendra Silva’s statement over the weekend urging public cooperation to maintain law and order, said Kavinda Makalanda, spokesperson for Premadasa.

“A civil administration is the need, not the military, in a democratic country,” Makalanda said.

If opposition parties fail to form a government by the time Rajapaksa resigns, Wickremesinghe, as prime minister, will become acting president under the constitution. In line with the protesters’ demands, however, opposition parties don’t want him even as acting president.

They said that Wickremesinghe should promptly resign and allow Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to be acting president – the next in line under the constitution. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the country’s main lawyers’ body, has also endorsed that position.