Maldives appoints key dissident as Fm

The Maldives has named one of its top dissidents as the country's new finance minister amid sweeping political reforms in the South Asian archipelago, an official said Friday.

Ghasim Ibrahim was named Finance Minister on Thursday by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, said a Government official in the capital island Male.

Ibrahim, a top businessman and a former member of the dissident Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), was among dozens arrested after anti-government riots in Male a year ago, Government spokesman Mohamed H. Shareef said.

"He has completely renounced the MDP and is concentrating on his business and philanthropic work," Shareef told AFP by telephone.

"This is a very significant appointment at a time when the country is rebuilding after the tsunami."

Diplomatic sources said Ibrahim's defection to the Government could be a blow to the dissidents, who for the first time were allowed to register themselves as a political party in the tiny archipelago in June.

There was no immediate reaction from the MDP.

Maldivian Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed told AFP on Friday the government had also freed cyber dissident Mohamed Zaki, who had been sentenced to life in jail for putting out Internet magazine Sandhaanu.

Shaheed in an interview earlier in the week said the Government would press ahead with reforms despite political protests that have seen the arrest of more than 130 anti-government activists.

The government will stick to a schedule to have a fully-fledged democratic system in the nation of 300,000 before the end of 2005, the Foreign Minister said. (AFP)