Sri Lanka gets new PM amid efforts to quell civil unrest

COLOMBO • Sri Lanka appointed a new prime minister yesterday, a move that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes will quell weeks of worsening civil unrest in which at least nine people died this week and more than 300 were injured.

Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe, 73, a political veteran who has been prime minister five times before, faces the daunting task of leading his country through its worst economic crisis since independence.

He will serve at the pleasure of the President, who has fought off calls for his own resignation over the government's mismanagement of the economic crisis.

Economic mismanagement, the Covid-19 pandemic and rising energy costs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have drained the state coffers, meaning Sri Lanka is running low on fuel and essential medicines and facing daily power blackouts.

Shortages have brought thousands of people onto the streets in more than a month of anti-government protests that had remained predominantly peaceful until Monday.

Mr Rajapaksa, whose elder brother Mr Wickremesinghe replaced as prime minister, has called nationwide curfews and given security forces sweeping powers to shoot at anyone involved in looting or putting people's lives at risk.

Mr Wickremesinghe is the sole parliamentary representative of the United National Party, a once-powerful political force that was nearly wiped out in Sri Lanka's last elections.

The former lawyer hails from a political family and his uncle Junius Jayewardene served as president for more than a decade.

He was first appointed premier in 1993 after the assassination of president Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was killed in a bomb attack by Tamil Tiger guerillas during Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war.

Mr Wickremesinghe will be taking charge of a bankrupt nation in default of its US$51-billion (S$71-billion) foreign debt and without money to import essential goods.

His status as a pro-West, free-market reformist could smooth bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and foreign creditors.

But he has already warned there will be no quick fix to the nation's unprecedented economic woes.

"The worst is yet to come. We have very high inflation now and hyperinflation is on its way," Mr Wickremesinghe told Parliament last week.

"We should start addressing the issues now, we can't put it off any longer," he added.

Sri Lanka's former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday after his supporters attacked anti-government demonstrators. He later had to be rescued from his residence by the military, and has gone into hiding on a naval base.

A magistrate's court yesterday issued orders blocking him, his son Namal and other key allies from leaving the country, lawyers present at the hearing said.

"I personally will extend my fullest cooperation to any investigation that is taking place with regard to the unfortunate events that took place on Monday," Mr Namal Rajapaksa said in a tweet following the order. "Neither my father nor myself have any intention to leave (Sri Lanka)."

Protesters have sprayed graffiti over Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa's home in a southern town and ransacked a museum dedicated to his father.

They have vowed to keep up the protests until the president quits.

Sri Lanka's central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Wednesday that failing to find a solution to the crisis in the next one to two weeks would lead to power cuts of up to 10 to 12 hours per day, as well as his own resignation.

Meanwhile, many Sri Lankans thronged buses in the main city Colombo yesterday to return to their hometowns during a brief relaxation in curfew, Streets in the commercial capital were calm, though there were queues at supermarkets as people ventured out to buy essential supplies before the curfew was reimposed at 2pm local time.

Frustration remained over fuel shortages that have crippled the country's economy.

"We have hit the bottom economically," said Mr Nimal Jayantha, an auto-rickshaw driver queuing for petrol after the curfew was lifted.

"I don't have the time do my job. By the time I stay in the fuel queue and get petrol, curfew will be imposed. I will have to go home without any money."

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE