Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves Maldives for Singapore
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He is expected to arrive at Singapore’s Changi Airport tonight, the security source said. Rajapaksa had been waiting to secure a “private jet” from a close family member in Colombo, but that had “not materialized,” the source added.
Rajapaksa left the capital of the Maldives, Malé, on board a “Saudi flight” the source said.
CNN believes the source was referring to Saudia flight 788 which left Malé at 11.30am (local) Thursday.
Saudia is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia.
CNN has reached out to the Foreign Ministry of Singapore and Saudia but has not heard back.
Rajapaksa had been in Maldives for one day after fleeing Sri Lanka in the early hours of Wednesday — the same day he had said he would resign.
But by Thursday, no formal resignation letter had been received by the Sri Lankan parliament’s speaker, raising questions about the intentions of an apparently self-exiled leader who appointed the prime minister as acting president during his absence from his island nation.
Shortly after Rajapaksa left the country, protesters stormed Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office to demand his removal. Wickremesinghe responded by calling a nationwide curfew overnight.
Many protesters have vowed to continue to demonstrate until both men step down.
A high-ranking military official told CNN Wickremesinghe had appointed a committee of senior armed forces commanders to “restore law and order” across the nation.
This is a developing story…
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