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Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore on Thursday, a foreign ministry official said, after he left his country facing its worst economic crisis since independence.
The Singaporean ministry said in a statement he has been allowed to enter the country on a private visit but has not asked for asylum.
The embattled leader arrived a day after he fled Sri Lanka to the Maldives aboard a military plane after seeing a massive number of protestors storm his official residence in Colombo demanding his resignation.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. (Getty/Kyodo)
The island nation of 22 million people is now under a state of emergency, with his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe serving as acting president, but the appointment has made protestors even more furious.
The prime minister, who has also been facing intense pressure to quit, imposed a curfew in the Sri Lankan capital again from noon on Thursday.
The president was going to step down on Wednesday but has yet to do so, apparently taking advantage of the title to help facilitate travel procedures before finding ways to live in exile.
Under the country’s law, presidents are protected from arrest while in power.
Singapore generally does not grant requests for asylum, according to the ministry.
Singapore’s state-owned news channel said that the Sri Lankan president arrived in Singapore at around 7:20 p.m. on a Saudi Arabian airline flight.
The Associated Press reported earlier that he was due to visit Saudi Arabia after Singapore, citing a Maldives government official. But the news agency now says that his final destination is not immediately clear.
Related coverage:
Sri Lankan president flees country amid economic crisis, protests
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