Envoys Score Sri Lanka's State Of Emergency Protests

Diplomats and rights groups expressed concern Saturday after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency and police used force against peaceful protesters amid the country’s worst economic crisis in recent memory, Krishnan Francis reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during a visit to India

The economic and political situation has triggered protests across the Indian Ocean island nation demanding the resignation of Rajapaksa and his powerful ruling family. Rajapaksa issued a decree declaring a public emergency on Friday.

He invoked sections of the Public Security Ordinance that allow him to make regulations in the interests of public security and preserving public order and for the maintenance of essential supplies. Under the emergency regulations, Rajapaksa can authorize detentions, seize possession of property and search any premises. He can also change or suspend any law.

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung tweeted Saturday that she is “concerned” by the state of emergency, adding that “the voices of peaceful citizens need to be heard. And the very real challenges Sri Lankans are facing require long-term solutions to set the country back on a path toward prosperity and opportunity for all. The SOE (state of emergency) won’t help do that.” Canadian envoy David McKinnon said Sri Lankans have a right to peaceful protest under democracy and that it is “hard to understand why it is necessary, then, to declare a state of emergency.”

The declaration of emergency came on the same day that shops, offices, banks, and schools closed across the country heeding calls for a shutdown in protest against the president and his family. Trade unions have warned of continued strikes from May 11 if they do not resign by then.

The government said Saturday the emergency was declared to create political stability so that reforms can be implemented to help resolve the economic crisis. Sri Lanka is near bankruptcy. It announced it is suspending repayment of its foreign loans and its usable foreign currency reserves have plummeted below $50 million.

The country has $7 billion in foreign loan repayments due this year out of $25 billion to be repaid by 2026. Its total foreign debt is $51 billion. It also said the emergency status would help create necessary conditions for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other agencies and countries for financial assistance and debt restructuring.

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