Sri Lanka’s president swore in a new Cabinet on Monday despite a warning by Parliament’s speaker of a possible bloodbath if lawmakers are not summoned immediately to resolve a deepening political crisis following the president’s sacking of the prime minister.
The comments from Karu Jayasuriya, the parliamentary speaker, came hours after dismissed Ranil Wickremesinghe, the country’s prime minister, also demanded the reconvening of Parliament, saying he still controls a majority of the lawmakers.
Maithripala Sirisena, the Sri Lankan president, sacked Mr Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet on Friday and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa. On Saturday, Mr Sirisena suspended Parliament in an apparent move to give Mr Rajapaksa time to muster enough support to survive any no-confidence vote.
Mr Sirisena’s moves have triggered a power struggle and some observers say it has created a constitutional crisis.
With tensions already heightened by the killing of one activist, the United States added to international pressure on President Maithripala Sirisena to annul his suspension of parliament and end the power struggle. India has made a similar call.
Mr Sirisena proceeded on Monday to swear in 12 Cabinet ministers, one state minister and a deputy minister. The rest of the ministers will be appointed later, Dharma Sri Ekanayake, a presidential spokesman, said.
Mr Jayasuriya said the crisis should be quickly resolved by Parliament and added that he has already asked Mr Sirisena to summon lawmakers.
"Some are trying to resolve this matter in the streets. If that happens, a bloodbath could occur," he said.
During his decade-long tenure Mr Rajapakse leaned heavily on China for political support loans. Cheng Xueyuan, China’s ambassador to Colombo, met separately with Mr Rajapakse and Mr Wickremesinghe on Saturday.
Lu Kang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said Beijing was closely following the situation but believed Sri Lanka had "enough wisdom" to resolve it internally.
Two people died and one was wounded in the first violence related to the political turmoil.
Arjuna Ranatunga, who was petroleum minister under Mr Wickremesinghe, said one of his security guards opened fire when Rajapaksa supporters mobbed him and protested his entry to the ministry.