Nations collapsing: it's Sri Lanka's turn
Sri Lanka burns with anger and hatred. The residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was stormed by thousands of angry protesters, with the police rushing to disperse the crowd tear gas. For days, the rioters have been demanding the resignation of the Sinhalese president, who today fled just before the assault. Rajapaksa was reportedly taken to a safe place while the demonstrators occupied the offices of the presidency.
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The images released by local and international broadcasters show the protesters occupying the offices of the presidency, the swimming pool of the presidential palace and the kitchens where they would also have obtained food. The country is crushed by a deep economic crisis, food, hospitals have no more medicines, fuel is lacking and this has led to prolonged power cuts and the closure of power plants.
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The situation had worsened considerably due to the drastic decrease in yields, due to the president's decision to ban chemical fertilizers last year.
The most serious ever economic crysis since the independence achieved in 1948. In recent days, President Rajapaksa had turned to Putin for help in importing fuel, saying that he had had a very productive telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart aimed at opening of a credit line for the import of petrol and diesel. In Sri Lanka, fuel stocks in depots are virtually exhausted and foreign exchange reserves are sufficient to guarantee imports for no more than two months.
We have decided to strengthen bilateral relations in sectors such as tourism, trade and culture, so as to consolidate the friendship our two countries share
In any case, the intervention of Russia may not be enough, because the situation is burdened by a series of devastating factors: the impact of the Covid pandemic which has caused an economy largely dependent on tourism, the exponential rise in oil prices and systematic cuts to the public budget. Suffice it to say that inflation has reached 54.6% and is expected to reach 60% by the end of this year. The contraction of GDP for 2022 is expected between 4% and 5%, in a country where the population has always been gripped by poverty.
The economic crisis is quickly turning into a serious humanitarian crisis. Many of the 22 million Sinhalese inhabitants are already forced to raise wood for cooking, but it is above all the shortage of fuel, medicines and other basic necessities that bring the nation to its knees. The consequences are unfortunately emblematic: long blackouts with the closure of power plants and hospitals forced to postpone treatments due to the shortage of drugs. Sri Lanka also defaulted on an international debt of more than $ 50 billion. An appeal to the international community to help the population of Sri Lanka, especially with medicines and hospital equipment, also came in recent days from the archbishop of Colombo who stressed how the lack of fuel makes it difficult for doctors to arrive. on time in the hospital.
Last night an indefinite curfew was declared in the capital and the army deployed on maximum alert: for days the demonstrators have been calling for the president to resign. After his escape, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called an emergency cabinet meeting and according to rumors the prime minister agreed to resign from his post when all parties have agreed on the formation of a new government.
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/09/asia/sri-lanka-protest-president-saturday-intl-hnk/index.html
