Hail, the emperor!

• Crowned emperor of the new Commonwealth and with a war crimes inquiry in the offing next March, at home President Mahinda Rajapaksa is looking more invincible than ever

 November 21, 2013 

There’s a new emperor  in town
The posters and hoardings to celebrate President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ascension to the Chair of the Commonwealth, a grouping mostly made up of territories of the former British Empire, must have been ready weeks in advance. By happy coincidence, the President was also celebrating his 68th birthday and his eighth year in office this week.

Locally, the Commonwealth summit, dogged by controversy over Sri Lanka’s human rights record and plagued by eleventh-hour boycotts and embarrassing no-shows, had been President Rajapaksa’s crowning moment. The posters all over the capital summed it up: 

Hail, The Emperor! by nelvely