Maldives opposition threaten disobedience, strikes

MALE, Tuesday (Reuters) The Maldives' main opposition party vowed bring the island chain to a grinding halt with strikes and protests unless President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom starts to make good on political reform pledges.

Senior members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) - some of them in self-imposed exile in Sri Lanka - warned of a rising risk of violence in the island chain and called for action from the international community.

"We can't do anything through the courts because the courts are a joke," said Ibrahim Ismail, one of a string of candidates aiming for the party leadership at its congress in December. "We can't do anything through the police. The only avenue left open is mass action."

Gayoom, who has run the Maldives since 1978, has vowed to revamp the archipelago's poltical system in the face of stiff international condemnation of his human rights record.In June, he allowed the formation of political parties. MDP leader Mohamed Nasheed was arrested at a rally in August, and charged with terrorism and treason for comments he made against Gayoom at a rally.Gayoom's government accuses Nasheed's party of fomenting dissent and inciting violent protests in the idyllic island chain, which lies 500 miles (800 km) off the toe of India and is known for its luxury beach resorts and world class scuba.

The MDP said it wanted Nasheed and other political detainees released immediately. Gayoom had said constitutional reform would be complete by January 2006 but the party said it felt this was now unrealistic and it was willing to extend the deadline until mid-2006. But without clear progress, it said confrontation was inevitable.

MDP founder Mohamed Latheef, whose daughter Jennifer was jailed for 10 years on terrorism charges in October, said the party was committed to avoiding violence but that unless the situation changed some would take matters into their own hands.

"What we are doing is to pre-empt violence," he said. "There are a lot of young people who think we are a bunch of old guys who do nothing. If there is not pre-emptive disobedience it will get a lot worse."

Party leaders said they had yet to decide on when their disobedience would begin, but that they were reluctant to begin it before their party congress began on Dec.15 for fear the government would ban them and smash their structure.