Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa escaped to the neighbouring island nation of the Maldives four days after angry citizens, protesting against economic mismanagement, stormed his palace in Colombo.
Seventy-three-year-old Rajapakse, a former lieutenant-colonel in the Sri Lankan army, is the second of the four Rajapakse brothers who have wielded immense political power over Sri Lanka since the bloody civil war ended in 2009.
His wife and a bodyguard are reported to have been flown, along with him, on a military aircraft from Colombo to the Maldives early this morning.
He was received by Maldivian government officials at Male’s Velana airport, the report said.
Rajapaksa is expected to announce his resignation today. That will make him the first sitting Sri Lankan president to quit.
