On July 13, the ousted leader, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard an air force plane for the Maldives, before traveling to Singapore from where he officially resigned. He flew to Thailand two weeks later.
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai says the current Sri Lankan government supported Gotabaya Rajapaksa's trip to Thailand, adding that the former president's diplomatic passport would allow him to stay for 90 days.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe aims to form an "all-party government" to battle the economic crisis that led to months of lengthy blackouts and shortages of food, fuel and medicine in Sri Lanka.
In his resignation letter to parliament, Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he did his "utmost" to avoid an economic catastrophe in Sri Lanka, but the coronavirus pandemic derailed his efforts.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 73, fled Sri Lanka after protesters demonstrating against the country's worst-ever economic crisis overran his palace on the weekend.
Hundreds of thousands massed in Colombo through the morning to demand the government take responsibility for mismanaging the nation's finances, and for months of crippling food and fuel shortages.
While Washington and its allies are trying to cut financial flows supporting Moscow’s military effort, Russia is offering its crude at a steep discount, making it extremely enticing to a number of countries.
Colombo is also in talks with Russia to obtain crude, coal, diesel and petrol as the country faces its worst economic meltdown since independence.
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka sharply hiked fuel prices to a record high, causing further pain to the country's 22 million people in its worst crisis since independence.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says the island nation needs to secure $75 million in foreign exchange in the next few days to pay for essential imports.
A majority vote in the 225-member Parliament would be needed to remove Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Cabinet from power in the South Asian island country.
Rohan Weliwita, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the president has not communicated any intent to remove the prime minister.
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