Sri Lanka appoints new Cabinet as military cracks down on protests

BANGALORE - Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed his new prime minister and Cabinet on Friday (July 22) amid a deepening economic meltdown and military crackdown on citizen protests against the government. 

Mr Wickremesinghe, who was himself sworn in as President only 24 hours earlier after his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, picked his former classmate and Rajapaksa-confidant Dinesh Gunawardena as Prime Minister. Mr Gunawardena, 73, will also manage the home and local government portfolios. 

Eighteen ministers assumed office on critical portfolios including health, trade, and tourism. 

Mr Ali Sabry, the former finance minister who kicked off bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund, is the Foreign Minister. Mr Kanchana Wijesekara is the new Power and Energy Minister. 

As no name was announced for the finance ministry, it is understood that President Wickremesinghe will helm it.

The new Cabinet will have to manage the bankrupt nation’s US$51 billion (S$71 billion) foreign debt, urgently secure fuel, medicine and food essentials, and provide relief to Sri Lankans grappling with inflation at a record 55 per cent, with food inflation at 80 per cent. 

Ahead of the swearing in of the new Cabinet, a huge contingent of the military and police raided Colombo’s Galle Face seaside, where anti-government protesters have peacefully agitated for over three months amid the island nation’s worst economic crisis. 

The protest organisers had announced on Thursday afternoon that they would clear out of the presidential secretariat by 2pm on Friday. They had occupied the building and the lawns outside it on July 9, demanding the resignations of the president and prime minister. 

But before dawn on Friday, security forces assaulted several protesters, according to local reports. Videos on social media showed soldiers tearing down tents housing the protesters’ tech centre and community kitchen. They also beat people gathered there, injuring dozens including a BBC Tamil journalist.

Security forces detained at least eight protesters and a lawyer, who are now out on bail. 

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka called the military action a “brutal and despicable attack on the peaceful protesters”. 

“Unnecessary use of brute force will not help this country and its international image,” said Mr Saliya Pieris, president of Bar Association of Sri Lanka, an influential lawyers’ group. 

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations said: “An artificial stability enforced through military power… has dangers of shifting the protest movement underground with catastrophic consequences.” 

As the ministers took their oaths on Friday morning, angry crowds gathered 3km away near the Fort railway station to demand that protesters be released, and that “the shameless government” listen to the people. 

“The new ministers are the very politicians who caused Sri Lanka’s economic crisis with their corruption and incompetence. I feel hopeless but we will continue our fight,” said a protester who did not want to give her name fearing arrest. 

After Mr Rajapaksa sent in his resignation from Singapore on July 15, he appointed six-time prime minister Mr Wickremesinghe as acting president. 

Mr Wickremesinghe was appointed President on Wednesday with 134 votes in the 225-member Parliament, under a state of emergency that is still in force. It gives security forces sweeping powers to detain citizens. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said he is “ready to provide support and assistance to the best of my ability to President Wickremesinghe and the people of Sri Lanka” to move towards economic and social recovery, state broadcaster CCTV reported. 

The beleaguered South Asian country owes China at least US$5 billion, although some estimates put it at almost twice that amount.