Thailand confirms imminent arrival of fugitive Sri Lankan ex-president in the country

The authorities of Thailand have confirmed Wednesday the arrival in the coming days of the former president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled a month ago from his country, harassed by major demonstrations that for months occupied the streets of the main cities of the island.

Thailand’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tanee Sangrat, has informed through his Twitter profile that they received a request from the Sri Lankan government for Rajapaksa to enter Thai territory on the basis of “cordial and long-standing ties between the two countries.”

According to agreements between the two countries and as a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport holder, Rajapaksa can enter Thailand without a visa for 90 days. “The stay is temporary for the purpose of further travel. No political asylum has been requested,” the foreign spokesman specified.

Although Sangrat said he did not know the exact date on which Rajapaksa would land on Thai soil, the local press said he would arrive as early as Thursday from Singapore, where he arrived after passing through the Maldives after fleeing Sri Lanka a month ago.

Rajapaksa’s imminent arrival “will not cause any problem”, as Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai wanted to clarify to the media, who ruled out any inconvenience. “There is no objection on the part of the government,” he said.

In this sense, the Foreign Minister also ruled out that the Sri Lankan community in Thailand may have “problems” with the presence in the country of Rajapaksa, who has the approval of the new government for this trip, where he has many “allies”, among them his successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe, who was appointed president by the Parliament last July 20 after the flight of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has given some sense of stability to the country after addressing water and fuel shortages, the main reasons why the population decided to occupy the streets four months ago.

Last April 9, the first groups of people dissatisfied with the work of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to camp in front of his official residence. A month later, he resigned, and in June it was the then Minister of Finance, Basil Rajapaksa, who did the same.

Both are brothers of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who despite his reluctance to leave office during the protests, was finally forced to resign and flee to Singapore in early July after seeing protesters storm his official residence.