Gotabaya lands in Thailand for temporary stay

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Bangkok yesterday, for what Thai authorities said would be a temporary stay, after weeks of seeking shelter in Singapore following his ouster in mid-July, reported the Straits Times (https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/ousted-sri-lankan-president-arrives-in-thailand-for-temporary-stay).

He is believed to have arrived at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport around 8 p.m. Bangkok time, via charter plane from Singapore’s Seletar Airport earlier in the evening.

Rajapaksa arrived in Bangkok on the same day that his visa in Singapore expired.

The 73-year-old former President fled his island nation last month amid months-long protests over Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in decades, which has left many Sri Lankans in dire shortage of fuel, food and medicine.

He arrived in Singapore on 14 July and was granted a 14-day short-term visit pass. This was later extended until 11 Aug., The Straits Times earlier reported.

His arrival in Bangkok marks the second South-east Asian stop that Rajapaksa has made to seek refuge from the political turmoil in his homeland and the massive protests largely targeted at him.

Thailand received a request from the current Sri Lankan Government to allow the former President entry into the kingdom, said Thailand’s Department of Information Director-General and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanee Sangrat, on Wednesday.

The consideration was based on long-standing and cordial ties between Thailand and Sri Lanka, he added.

As a holder of a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport, Rajapaksa can enter Thailand without a visa for 90 days.

“The stay is temporary in nature with the aim of onward travel. No political asylum has been sought,” Tanee said. The two countries have no extradition treaty.

On Wednesday, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Rajapaksa’s stay was for “humanitarian reasons” and that the former President had promised not to conduct political activities during his stay while seeking political asylum in a third country.

In a related development, the AFP said Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday left Singapore where he had taken refuge following his escape from protesters at home, after he was given a visa only for about a month in the city-State.

Rajapaksa flew into Singapore from the Maldives on 14 July after fleeing a deepening economic crisis and widespread protests in Sri Lanka. He tendered his resignation shortly after his arrival.

Sri Lankans arriving in Singapore normally receive a 30-day visa, but authorities said they had initially given Rajapaksa only two weeks and later extended the visa by another two weeks.

“The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) confirms that Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Singapore on 11 August,” Singapore’s immigration office said in reply to an AFP query.

It did not say where the former leader was headed but the Thai foreign ministry, as well as a source in Colombo, said Wednesday he was seeking a new safe haven in Thailand.

Rajapaksa fled his nation after tens of thousands of protesters overran his official residence last month, angry about acute shortages of food, fuel and medicine endured by Sri Lanka’s 22 million people since late last year.

An international human rights group last month formally asked Singapore to indict Rajapaksa for crimes against humanity during his country’s decades-long civil war that ended in 2009.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project said it had urged Singapore to exercise universal jurisdiction to arrest the former President for grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

Rajapaksa helmed Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry while his brother Mahinda was President when the country’s brutal Tamil separatist conflict came to a bloody end.

Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers confirmed it had received a complaint from the rights group without giving details.

“His Singapore visa runs out on Thursday,” a close associate of Rajapaksa told AFP in Colombo on Wednesday.

“He had applied for an extension, but it had not come through as of Wednesday morning.” The source said Rajapaksa now planned to go to Thailand for a short stay but return to Singapore.

The Thai foreign ministry confirmed it had received a request from Colombo for the 73-year-old deposed leader to visit and an assurance that he would not seek political asylum.

“The Thai side received a request for the former president to enter Thailand from the current Government of Sri Lanka,” Ministry Spokesman Tanee Sangrat said in a statement.

“The stay is temporary in nature with the aim of onward travel. No political asylum has been sought.” 

The Rajapaksa confidant told AFP that the former leader was keen to return home as protests against his administration had fizzled out, but his successor Ranil Wickremesinghe had advised him against an early return.

Singapore officials had said he was on a private visit to the city-State and the Foreign Minister stressed that he was not given any special privileges.

“In general, the Singapore Government does not accord privileges, immunity and hospitality to former heads of State or heads of Government,” Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in a written reply to a question in Parliament last week.

“Consequently, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not accorded any privileges, immunity or hospitality.”