Sri Lanka opposition rejects proposed unity government
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's largest opposition party rejected an invitation from the president on Monday to form a unity government, as protests continued over the country's worst economic crisis in memory and deepening mistrust in his leadership. All 26 Cabinet ministers handed in their resignations Sunday night after thousands of people defied a countrywide state of emergency and curfew and joined street protests denouncing the government.
A Monday statement from the office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who assumed emergency powers by decree at midnight Friday, 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 party, the United People’s Force, or SJB, immediately rejected the unity government proposal. “The people of this country want Gotabaya and the entire Rajapaksa family to go and we can’t go against the people’s will and we can’t work alongside the corrupt,” top SJB official Ranjth Madduma Banadara told The Associated Press.
For several months, Sri Lankans have endured long lines to buy fuel, cooking gas, foods and medicines, most of which come from abroad and are paid for in hard currency. The fuel shortage has caused rolling power cuts lasting several hours a day. The extent of the crisis became clear when Sri Lanka couldn’t pay for imports of basic supplies because of its huge debts and dwindling foreign reserves. The country’s usable foreign reserves are said to be less than $400 million, according to experts, and it has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt obligations for this year alone.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sri-lanka-president-proposes-multiparty-cabinet-amid-crisis-83858719
