Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa reportedly shunned a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, with the regime “opposed” to the trip from the senior US official, claimed a government minister.
Wimal Weerawansa, an outspoken Sinhala chauvinist politician and leader of the National Freedom Front party, told reporters that both prime minister and his brother Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa were opposed to the Pompeo visit.
“Since a Mahinda (Rajapaksa) – Gotabaya (Rajapaksa) government is in place now, they opposed Pompeo’s visit,” Weerawansa claimed.
The day before Pompeo’s arrival there was also a protest outside the US Embassy in Colombo by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and several Sinhala Buddhist monks.
During his visit, Pompeo met with Gotabaya Rajapaksa and with Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, where he discussed the role of China, trade, accountability for rights abuses and a US travel ban on army commander Shavendra Silva.
