Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return to Sri Lanka on August 24: Report

Former president of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa will return to the island nation on August 24, 2022, according to local media.

Former Sri Lankan ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, was cited as confirming that the ex-leader would return next week.

Earlier this year, Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka amid protests against his government. He resigned from office and arrived in Thailand last week on a flight from Singapore, where he stayed for over two weeks.

He resigned from office soon after arriving in Singapore, facing public anger over his government's handling of Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

Rajapaksa has made no public appearances or comment since leaving Sri Lanka. Reuters was not able to immediately contact him or Weeratunga.

The office of Rajapaksa's successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who suggested last month that the former president refrain from returning to Sri Lanka in the near future, did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

"I don't believe it's the time for him to return," Wickremesinghe told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on July 31. "I have no indication of him returning soon."

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