Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on July 13, is likely to fly to Singapore today (July 14) amid a worsening crisis of the protest-infested island nation. His decision to put PM Ranil Wickremesinghe in charge as acting President led to more protests.

President Rajapaksha, fearing backlash from civilians, has requested the Maldives government to arrange a private jet to fly him to Singapore, reports stating government sources in Maldives have said.

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Rajapaksa had telephoned the speaker of parliament saying that he would step down on Wednesday, but his resignation letter had not arrived as of early Thursday.

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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is now an acting president, has declared a state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province has been imposed.

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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also announced to step down from his posts amid the ongoing protests and crisis in Sri Lanka.

The worsening economic situation in the country has led to increasing tensions over the last few weeks as there were reports of several confrontations between individuals and members of the police force and the armed forces at fuel stations where thousands of desperate members of the public have queued for hours and sometimes days.

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Presently, the crisis-hit island nation is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of Covid-19, threatening to undo years of development progress and severely undermining the country’s ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).