Sri Lanka’s opposition has rejected an invitation from the president to form a unity government, urging his resignation over the country’s worsening shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
The opposition’s demand on Monday came as anti-government protests continued throughout the country over its worst economic crisis in memory and deepening mistrust in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s leadership.
Every member of Sri Lanka's cabinet except the president and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned late Sunday.
Earlier on Monday, the president’s office said he “invites all political parties represented in the parliament to come together to accept ministerial portfolios in order to find solutions to this national crisis”.
The largest opposition political alliance – the United People’s Power or Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) – rejected the proposal.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday that it is monitoring political and economic developments in Sri Lanka "very closely" as public unrest in the island nation grows amid its worst economic crisis in decades.
Spontaneous public protests have continued against shortages of essential goods and rolling power cuts.
On Sunday, many defied a curfew to take to the streets in several cities. Many of the protesters have been calling for the resignation of the president.
The curfew, along with a ban on social media sites including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, was meant to halt a planned day of protests, after a demonstration outside the president's house on Thursday night turned violent.
Two opposition parties - the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), with 54 seats, and the Janatha Vinukthi Peramuna (JVP), with three - have also rejected the president's invitation to form a national unity government and told him to resign instead.
All 26 Cabinet ministers handed in their resignations on Sunday, after thousands of people defied a countrywide state of emergency and curfew and joined street protests to denounce the government.
Two other Rajapaksa brothers, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa, were among those who resigned, along with the prime minister’s son, Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa.
The departures cleared the way for the country’s ruling political family to seek to shore up its weakening position and attempt to stem growing public protests.
But the president has already reappointed four of the outgoing ministers – three of them to their old jobs – while replacing brother Basil Rajapaksa as finance minister with the previous justice chief. Previous ministers of foreign affairs, education and highways kept their positions.
