Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left the Maldives.
Reuters cited a Sri Lankan government source as saying that he has traveled to Singapore, after staying in the Maldives for one day. However, Associated Press (AP) stated that a Maldivian government official indicated he planned to travel onward to Saudi Arabia, but could only confirm his first stop in Singapore.
President Rajapaksa, his spouse and two bodyguards fled Sri Lanka on an air force plane to the Maldives on July 13 to escape a popular uprising over his family's role in a crippling economic crisis.
Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head when hundreds of thousands of people took over government buildings in Colombo, blaming the Rajapaksa family and allies for runaway inflation, shortages of basic goods and corruption. His decision to make his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming the parliament and the premier's office demanding that he also quit.
The Sri Lankan government has imposed a curfew in Colombo in a bid to prevent further unrest. Local media showed armoured vehicles with soldiers atop patrolling the city's streets. The military said troops were empowered to use force to protect people and public property.