Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves to Singapore, will head to Saudi Arabia next

|HT|

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left Maldives for Singapore, from where he will head to Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reported.

The 73-year-old leader boarded a Saudi Airlines plane on Wednesday that will take him to Singapore and then to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, a Maldives government official said.

Rajapaksa had left Sri Lanka on Wednesday morning with his wife and two bodyguards. He was welcomed at the airport by speaker Mohamed Nasheed. Rajapaksa fled the country on the day he was supposed to hand over his resignation. His decision to step down came after the protesters stormed his presidential palace on Saturday, demanding he and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe step down. However, the protesters have said they will vacate the government buildings seized by them during the protests.

"We are peacefully withdrawing from the Presidential Palace, the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office with immediate effect, but will continue our struggle," a spokesperson said.

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