Sri Lanka’s former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has returned home after fleeing amid mass protests. This was announced by officials at the airport in Katunayake, 30 kilometers north of the capital Colombo, on Friday evening. Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka in mid-July. Thousands of people had previously demonstrated against him for months and ultimately stormed his official residence out of anger at a severe economic crisis. They accuse him of being responsible for the current catastrophic situation in the country due to mismanagement and corruption, among other things.
The island state south of India with its 22 million inhabitants is highly indebted. He lacks the means to import enough fuel, cooking gas, food and medicines. The International Monetary Fund wants to help the crisis state with a multi-year aid program worth 2.9 billion US dollars.
According to the information from the airport, Rajapaksa traveled from Thailand back to Sri Lanka. He has lived there since August 11, having previously stayed in the Maldives and Singapore.
