Sri Lanka crisis

Sri Lanka's president says Tuesday that China had agreed to restructure its loans to the bankrupt island nation, clearing the final obstacle to an International Monetary Fund bailout.

China's state-owned Exim Bank "sent a letter to the IMF" on Monday night expressing Beijing's willingness to "restructure" credit to Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe tells parliament.

Wickremesinghe adds that he expected the first tranche of the IMF package to now be released within the month. — AFP 

Entire wards are dark and nearly empty in Sri Lanka's largest hospital, its few remaining patients leaving untreated and still in pain, and doctors prevented from even arriving for their shifts.

An unprecedented economic crisis has dealt a body blow to a free and universal healthcare system that just months earlier was the envy of the country's South Asian neighbours. — AFP

Sri Lankan security forces demolish the main anti-government protest camp in the capital, evicting activists in a nighttime assault that raised international concern.

Troops and police Special Task Force commandos wielding batons and armed with automatic assault rifles swooped in on protesters blocking the Presidential Secretariat.

Hundreds of soldiers removed the demonstrators' barricades outside the sea-front building, while the last remaining protesters on the premises -- some still on the steps -- were evicted. — AFP

Sri Lankan security forces demolish the main anti-government protest camp in the capital, evicting activists in a nighttime assault that raised international concern.

Troops and police Special Task Force commandos wielding batons and armed with automatic assault rifles swoop in on protesters blocking the Presidential Secretariat.

Hundreds of soldiers remove the demonstrators' barricades outside the sea-front building, while the last remaining protesters on the premises -- some still on the steps -- were evicted. — AFP

Sri Lanka's six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in Thursday as president of the crisis-hit nation, with plans to form a unity government to manage the turmoil.

The 73-year-old veteran politician, who was overwhelmingly elected as head of state in a parliamentary vote Wednesday, took his oath of office with the country's police chief and top military brass standing behind him.

Official sources said the new leader was expected to shortly form a cabinet featuring several opposition lawmakers to steer the country out of its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain. — AFP

Sri Lanka's main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa withdraws from the country's presidential election Tuesday in favor of a ruling party dissident.

Minutes before nominations formally opened Premadasa tweeted that "for the greater good of my country that I love and the people I cherish" his party will support Dullas Alahapperuma, a former media minister, to  replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa who resigned last week. — AFP

Sri Lanka's parliament will vote on a new president Wednesday, the speaker's office says following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa after he was driven out of the country.

Nominations for the post of president will be received on Tuesday and MPs are due to vote the following day, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana's office says in a brief statement. — AFP

The resignation of Sri Lanka's president has been accepted, the crisis-hit country's parliamentary speaker announces, after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country earlier this week and notified him from Singapore that he was stepping down.

"Gotabaya has legally resigned" with effect from Thursday, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana tells reporters. 

"I have accepted the resignation." — AFP

Sri Lanka's anti-government demonstrators say they were ending their occupation of official buildings, as they vow to press on with their bid to bring down the president and prime minister in the face of a dire economic crisis.

Protesters overran President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's palace at the weekend, forcing him to flee to the Maldives on Wednesday, when activists also stormed the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Rajapaksa, 73, flew onwards Thursday to Singapore from Male, but there was still no announcement of his resignation, despite his earlier promise to step down on Wednesday. — AFP

Protesters in Sri Lanka defy tear gas, water cannon and a state of emergency to storm the prime minister's office on Wednesday after the country's embattled president fled overseas, with the crowd demanding both men step down in the face of an economic crisis.

In a televised statement Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says he had instructed the military and police to do "what is necessary to restore order".

But armed security personnel stood by on the grounds of his office as protesters, some holding national flags, milled and took pictures. — AFP

The parliamentary speaker announces that Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed to be acting president as incumbent Gotabaya Rajapaksa was overseas and as thousands of protesters demanded both men step down.

"Because of his absence from the country, President Rajapaksa told me that he has appointed the prime minister to act as the president in line with the constitution," Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana says in a brief televised statement. — AFP

The prime minister's office says crisis-hit Sri Lanka declared an indefinite nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country.

"Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country," Dinouk Colombage, spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, tells AFP.

Police say they were also imposing an indefinite curfew across the Western Province, which includes the capital Colombo, to contain growing protests after Rajapaksa flew to the Maldives in a military aircraft.

Sri Lanka is mired in a deep political and economic crisis, and on July 13, the country's president flew out of the country days after a huge crowd of protesters stormed his residence. Bookmark this page for updates. Photo courtesy of AFP/Arun Sankar