Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Monday provided his resignation amid the island nation’s worst financial disaster in many years that has led to widespread protests.
The 76-year-old’s letter of resignation paves the best way for a “new unity authorities.”
“A number of stakeholders have indicated one of the best answer to the current disaster is the formation of an interim all-party authorities,” the letter stated.
“Due to this fact, I’ve tendered my resignation so the following steps will be taken in accordance with the Structure.”
Troops deployed to quell unrest
Troops had been deployed within the capital Colombo on Monday after opponents and supporters of the Rajapaksa authorities clashed exterior the president’s workplace.
Authorities imposed a nationwide curfew to quell the unrest after dozens of individuals had been hospitalized within the greatest clashes witnessed in weeks of anti-government protests.
Police reported a minimum of two individuals had been killed, together with a member of parliament from the ruling Sri Lanka Individuals’s Entrance celebration. Greater than 150 others have been hospitalized.
Amid these developments, PM Rajapaksa provided to step down, answering one of many two calls from anti-government protesters, the opposite being the resignation of his brother — President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The nation’s largest opposition celebration stated earlier than the clashes it might not be a part of any authorities helmed by a member of the Rajapaksa clan.
The president known as for calm and restraint, tweeting that “violence will not remedy the present issues.”
“Strongly condemn the violent acts going down by these inciting & collaborating, regardless of political allegiances,” he stated on Twitter.
On Friday, the president declared a state of emergency amid rising anger over the federal government’s dealing with of its worst monetary disaster since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948.
PM’s resignation isn’t any ‘answer’
Shritharan Sivagnanam, an MP with the Tamil Nationwide Alliance which represents the Tamil minority, advised DW that Rajapaksa’s resignation “can’t be seen as an answer.”
“The president ought to resign, and all of the ministers ought to resign,” he stated. “Political stability can solely be the long-term answer for this disaster. A brand new authorities which takes care of individuals’s wants needs to be fashioned. Individuals ought to begin believing within the authorities once more.”
R. Sivarajah, the chief editor of the Thamilan information outlet agreed that the resignation was unlikely to vary something.
“It’s too late now,” he advised DW. “The transfer didn’t fulfill the widespread public. In reality, persons are extra agitated, and the protests are getting intense. Individuals do not need primary facilities resembling electrical energy or water.”
He stated Sri Lanka ought to attraction to a rustic like neighboring India to offer humanitarian assist in the brief time period.
US ambassador condemns remedy of protesters
The US envoy to Sri Lanka condemned Monday’s violence towards anti-government protesters.
“We condemn the violence towards peaceable protesters right this moment, and name on the federal government to conduct a full investigation, together with the arrest & prosecution of anybody who incited violence,” ambassador Julie Chung tweeted. “Our sympathies are with these injured right this moment and we urge calm and restraint throughout the island.”
Sri Lankans have suffered months of blackouts and dire shortages of meals, gasoline and medicines, sparking weeks of largely peaceable anti-government protests.
jsi, nm/msh (dpa, AP, AFP, Reuters)