Sri Lanka: After leaving the island nation last month amid widespread protests, the former president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has asked to enter Thailand for a brief stay in a second Southeast Asian nation, the Thai foreign ministry announced on Wednesday.
Following enormous turmoil brought on by Sri Lanka’s greatest economic crisis in seven decades and days after tens of thousands of protestors stormed the president’s official mansion and office, Rajapaksa fled to Singapore on July 14.
The former military officer later announced his resignation from the president, making him the first head of state in Sri Lanka to do so.
On Thursday, Rajapaksa is anticipated to fly from Singapore to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, according to two individuals who requested anonymity. Requests for comment from the Sri Lankan foreign ministry were not immediately fulfilled.
Rajapaksa has a diplomatic passport, according to Tanee Sangrat, a spokesman for the Thai foreign ministry, which grants him admission for 90 days. He didn’t specify a date for Rajapaksa’s scheduled visit.
The former president from Sri Lanka is only visiting Thailand temporarily.
The former president won’t seek political asylum in Thailand, according to the Sri Lankan side, and would instead leave for another nation.
