Crisis Chronology | Sri Lanka

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SRI LANKA

09/01/2022

The IMF approves a $2.9 billion loan to Sri Lanka.

08/03/2022

Activists being arrested and the Galle Face Green camp is being dismantled.

08/01/2022

Protestors in the main camp, called GotaGoGama or Galle Face Green, divided on whether to leave the camp after the crackdown that arrested many of the leaders.

07/27/2022

Government extends state of emergency by one month.

07/20/2022

Wickremesinghe named interim president

Wickremesinghe is elected interim president by the legislature. There are some protests, but they are relatively restrained.

07/13/2022

Wickremesinghe declares a state of emergency and a curfew. Police fire tear gas at protestors now occupying the president’s residence.

07/12/2022

Rajapaksa flees to the Maldives. By the constitution, the prime minister would assume the powers of the presidency until the legislature elects a new president.

07/09/2022

Rajapaksa resigns

Demonstrators break into the prime minister’s residence and set it afire. They also break into the president’s residence and ransack it. Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa both resign. Rajapaksa remains as caretaker president until 7/13.

07/06/2022

Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa asks Russian President Putin for credit support for importing oil.

07/05/2022

The country has less than a day’s supply of fuel. Schools are closed. The energy minister says a new fuel shipment is being negotiated, but it will take at least ten days to arrive. The IMF says that there is some progress on a support package.

06/30/2022

IMF and government fail to agree on a support package.

06/09/2022

Basil Rajapaksa, brother of President, resigns from parliament. Most electrical engineers from the national energy company go on strike, further cutting power to citizens.

05/25/2022

Wickremesinghe named finance minister.

05/19/2022

Central bank says that has defaulted on two of the country’s sovereign bonds, the first default in its history. It has already said it will not pay the interest on its international loans.

05/18/2022

Many farmers unable to plant this year because the ban on fertilizers has so reduced their crop yields that they cannot afford the expense of planting.

05/17/2022

Ruling party defeats a no-confidence motion against President Rajapaksa.

05/16/2022

Wickremesinghe says that the country has enough gasoline for only one day.

05/13/2022

Protests continue, demanding relief from the economic conditions.

05/12/2022

Court orders Mahinda Rajapaksa, his son, and his allies to remain in the country.

05/12/2022

Wickremesinghe appointed PM

Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed prime minister for the fifth time.

05/10/2022

Army evacuates Mahinda Rajapaksa from official residence as protestors storm its gates. Security forces are told to shoot violent protestors on sight. Wickremesinghe is struggling to form a unity government. Opposition legislator Harsha de Silva, leader of the largest opposition party in parliament, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, publicly turned down Wickremesinghe’ offer to be minister of finance, saying that he was joining “the people’s struggle.” The SJB has not decided whether or not to support a unity government unless Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns. The Rajapaksa coalition holds about 100 seats in the 225-seat parliament. The opposition has 58, and the rest are independent.

05/09/2022

Prime minister resigns

After violent clashes between protestors and police, PM Mahinda Rajapaska resigns to make way for “a new unity government,” a spokesman says.

05/06/2022

General strike to protest the government shuts down the country. Government declares a state of emergency.

05/03/2022

Opposition United People’s Force party proposes no-confidence vote against PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and his cabinet. It has only 54 votes in the 225-seat legislature, but hopes other parties will join. The ruling Sri Lanka People’s Front Party has 150 seats, but has lost support.

04/29/2022

Legislator and former president Maithripala Sirisena says President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to replace his brother as prime minister and that a national council including all parties will be formed to name a new prime minister.

04/27/2022

The country is largely shut down as trade unions call a general strike as a protest against the government.

04/18/2022

Government asks IMF for emergency financial assistance.

04/14/2022

Mahinda Rajapaska offers to hold discussions with protestors.

04/12/2022

Government halts foreign debt payments pending talks with the IMF over a bailout.

04/06/2022

President Rajapaksa rescinds state of emergency.

04/05/2022

Sabry resigns after one day. More than forty members of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party leave the ruling coalition, taking away its majority in parliament. Police suppress protests against the government.

04/04/2022

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa replaces his brother Basil as finance minister with Justice Minister Ali Sabry. Other ministers are also replaced as the financial crisis deepens. India has pledged financial support, but it is not clear what effect it will have in the short term. Central Bank chief also resigns. Stock exchange suspends trading.

04/03/2022

All cabinet ministers submit resignations except for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. There are strong protests in the streets against the government, which has blocked social media.

04/03/2022

All cabinet ministers submit resignations except for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. There are strong protests in the streets against the government, which has blocked social media.

04/01/2022

Gotabaya Rajapaksa orders state of emergency to quell protests.

03/28/2022

Government facing economic collapse

The country is on the brink of insolvency. It is in talks with China and India for aid.

03/22/2022

Government deploys military to quell protests over fuel shortages.

03/19/2022

Because there is no paper, the government closes schools.

01/18/2022

Government makes a payment on its debt thanks to help from India, but faces more payments that will be increasingly difficult to meet, with its tourist income devastated by COVID-19. The Rajapaska government would like to refinance its debt and borrow more from China (India’s regional rival), but that may lead to more Chinese takeover of the country.

01/18/2022

12/27/2021

Amid increasing currency crisis, a shortage of foreign reserves, government shuts three overseas missions. Banks have already been required to give 25% of their earnings to the government. The economy has been hit hard by a drop in tourism due to COVID-19.

12/08/2021

A push to end use of commercial fertilizers causes food shortages throughout the country. The government touted the ban as being about health, but the importing of fertilizers was also costing the government substantial losses.

11/16/2021

Soaring inflation causing food shortages. Government capped prices of some basic items but that only caused more shortages and black market usury.

10/25/2020

Government widens the extent of curfew due to COVID-19.

08/05/2020

Parliamentary elections expected to cement the control of the SLPP. Originally scheduled for March, the elections were twice delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

06/10/2020

Government again postpones parliamentary election from 6/20 to 8/5, due to COVID-19 pandemic. Sri Lanka has about 1800 cases and 9 deaths.

11/22/2019

Pres Rajapaksa says he will call parliamentary elections as soon as possible. His brother Mahinda is sworn in as prime minister and finance minister in the new cabinet.

11/17/2019

Gotabaya Rajapaksa elected president

Election commission declares Rajapaksa the winner with 52% of the vote. Premadasa has 42%. Turnout was 85%, despite attacks by unidentified gunmen on many polling sites.

11/16/2019

Presidential election. With Sirisena not running, the main candidates are Sajith Premadasa of the ruling United National Party's (UNP) and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, from the opposition Sri Lanka People's Front (SLPP). Premadasa is the son of a former president, assassinated in 1993, and has differences with that could cause problems with parliament, which is led by the UNP. If Rajapaksa wins, parliament would be in opposition. The situation could lead to snap elections. The main issues are security and the high debt, but the Easter bombings have intensified religious divisions.

09/18/2019

Advisor to possible candidate for president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, says that the candidate would restore relations with China if he wins the election on 11/16. However, Rajapaksa is not yet officially a candidate due to legal issues about his misappropriation of funds and his renunciation of US citizenship.

09/16/2019

Sirisena charges corruption by Chinese company involved with the building of the Lotus Tower, Asia’s tallest building.

08/11/2019

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, announces that Mahinda’s brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be their candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

05/22/2019

Following the Easter bombings, there are increasing calls for both Sirisena and Wickresmesinghe to resign.

04/25/2019

Defense minister resigns and takes responsibility for the Easter bombings. Sirisena had demanded resignations in the wake of the bombings, saying that he was not kept completely informed about warnings of the bombings. He also prevented Wickremesinghe from attending security meetings.

04/23/2019

Islamic State claims responsibility for Sri Lanka bombings.

04/21/2019

Terrorist bombs destroy three churches and two hotels in and around Colombo, killing three hundred. Authorities were warned that a small radical Islamist group, National Thowfeek Jaamath, would carry out bombings on Easter.

04/20/2019

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who as Defense Minister played an important role in ending the conflict with the Tamil Tigers, announces that he is running for president. He is former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother.

12/16/2018

Widkremesinghe returns to office

Wickremesinghe is sworn in again as prime minister by Sirisena. Wickremesinghe signals that elections are likely in 2019, since it seems unlikely the two men will be able to govern together.

12/15/2018

Rajapaksa resigns.

12/13/2018

Supreme Court rules that Sirisena’s dissolution of parliament was illegal and cancels the election called for 1/5/19.

12/12/2018

Parliament votes to reinstate Wickremesinghe. The hearing by the Court of Appeals has been delayed to 1/16/19. Meanwhile, however, the government has no budget for 2019.

12/11/2018

Supporter of Rajapaksa files lawsuit against Wickremesinghe alleging that he held shares in a private business that prints checks for the government.

12/03/2018

Court bars Rajapaksa from acting as prime minister.

11/28/2018

Chief of Defence is taken into custody over charges involving the murder of separatists at the end of the Tamil insurgence, in 2009.

11/25/2018

Pres Sirisena says that he will never accept Wickremesinghe as prime minister,

11/23/2018

Opponents of Rajapaska win control of the committee that controls parliament's agenda.

11/15/2018

Brawling breaks out in parliament. Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya says that there is no government; that neither Rajapaksa nor Wickresinghe are legitimate prime ministers. Rajapaksa rejects the parliament vote because it was only a voice vote.

11/14/2018

Parliament passes a no-confidence motion in Rajapaksa, in a voice vote, with 122 votes of the 225-member body.

11/13/2018

Supreme Court blocks dissolution of parliament.

11/09/2018

Parliament dissolved

After Rajapaksa acknowledges there are not enough votes in current parliament to confirm him as prime minister, Sirisena dissolves parliament and calls for new elections in 1/19.

10/28/2018

Sirisena says that the main reason he fired Wickremesinghe was his failure to investigate (or perhaps involvement with) an assassination plot that involved a cabinet minister. There were also policy differences, he says. Rajapaksa will continue Sri Lanka’s move toward China.

10/27/2018

Sirisena suspends parliament for two weeks as he tries to gather support for Rajapaska as prime minister. Many in parliament were demanding an immediate vote to determine who had a majority in parliament.

10/26/2018

Sirisena fires Prime Minister Rajapaska

Sirisensa removes Wickremesinghe as prime minister and replaces him with Rajapaska. Wickremesinghe insists that he is still prime minister.

10/25/2018

Police deputy inspector general arrested in alleged plot to kill Pres. Sirisena. India protest reports that Sirisena accused Indian intelligence of being involved in the plot, but both governments deny that.

10/18/2018

Government says that a plot to assassinate Pres. Sirisena has been discovered.

08/16/2018

Tonga Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva holding talks with other Pacific island nations about approaching China to forgive debt amid mounting fears that China may start seizing assets. He point to China’s taking possession of a port in Sri Lanka and negotiating to build a military vase in Vanuatu. Both China and Vanuatu have denied the latter. Vanuatu has a $115 million debt with China.