Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrives at Bangkok's Don Muang airport on a chartered flight from Singapore after the city-state's immigration authority said in a statement he had left Singapore.
BANGKOK, Thailand – Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Thailand on Thursday, August 11, according to three Reuters witnesses, as he seek temporary shelter in a second Southeast Asian country after fleeing his island nation last month amid mass protests.
Rajapaksa is expected to stay temporarily in Thailand after fleeing Sri Lanka for Singapore on July 14. He resigned from office shortly afterwards following unprecedented unrest over his government’s handling of the worst economic crisis in seven decades, and days after thousands of protesters stormed the president’s official residence and office.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said the Sri Lankan government supported Rajapaksa’s trip to Thailand, adding that the former president’s diplomatic passport would allow him to stay for 90 days.