President of Sri Lanka flees country on military jet

The president of Sri Lanka fled the country in a military jet after mass economic protests.

He and his wife are headed for the Maldives, local officials said. He reportedly missed several flights to Dubai on Monday.

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa sings the national anthem of Sri Lanka during the country's Independence Day celebration in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Feb. 4, 2022. (Eranga Jayawardena/)

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 73, who has been the head of state since 2019, went into hiding on Saturday as protesters stormed his residence after months of power outages, shortages of food, fuel, medicine and other necessities caused by inflation, according to the BBC.

On top of his economic mismanagement and corruption accusations, he is also accused of war crimes stemming from his time as the country’s defense minister. However, as president, he is immune from prosecution.

Two of his brothers have also fled.

The lack of a functioning government threatens to worsen the economic situation as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who would become interim president if Rajapaksa resigns, is also an unpopular figure whose residence was torched by protesters last week.

Wickremesinghe has pledged to resign so a new unity government can be formed, but has not given a timeline.

The acting president will have 30 days to hold an election among the current members of parliament.