Maldives warns Opposition not to incite unrest

by Simon Gardner, COLOMBO, (Reuters) - Opposition politicians in the Maldives could face jail if they make good on a threat to incite civil disobedience and strikes against President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the island's Foreign Minister warned on Tuesday.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has vowed to bring the administration of Gayoom - who has been in power for 27 years and is Asia's longest-serving ruler - grinding to a halt unless he implements a raft of pledged political reforms by mid-2006.

"We are not going to be dictated to by them on our agenda," Maldives Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed told Reuters in an interview on a visit to neighbouring Sri Lanka, where a clutch of senior MDP figures operate in self-imposed exile.

"Inciting rebellion, whether through peaceful disobedience or through violence would be an offence," Shaheed added. "They could face prison."

Gayoom vowed to ease his stranglehold on power and revamp the Maldives' political system in the face of harsh criticism of his Government's human rights record and after public anger at prison abuse boiled over into a riot in 2003.

He has promised to limit the term of the presidency, appoint a prime minister and strengthen the judiciary.

But his Government has since charged MDP leader Mohamed Nasheed with terrorism and treason for alleged comments he made against Gayoom at a rally earlier this year - and rights activists and lawyers are up in arms.

Eminent London-based lawyer Sir Ivan Lawrence, who led a delegation of rights lawyers to the Maldives in September, said in a report last month that the judiciary and legal system lacked the "basic capacity, competency and necessary independence" to deliver a fair trial. "We have high regard for him, but we think he could have a spent a bit more time in the Maldives before perhaps making the report," Shaheed said. "He could have been better informed in some aspects of it."

The Government accuses Nasheed's party of fomenting dissent and inciting violent protests in the luxury tourist resort, 500 miles (800 km) off the toe of India, where rooms at exclusive hotels can run well over $1,000 a night.

"They want us to make martyrs of them," Shaheed said. "The last thing we want to do is put the Opposition in jail. That isn't democracy."

"The MDP is using tactics to derail reform," he added. "A successful reform agenda would bring Gayoom more legitimacy internally and externally, and may enable him to carry on. So they're just saying they want Gayoom out."

In June, the Maldives allowed the formation of political parties, which were effectively banned under the Constitution until then.

But there is still no sign of multi-party elections and Gayoom's trusted aides continue to run the Government - and the lucrative tourist resorts which form the backbone of the island chain's $700 million economy.

Shaheed said he did not expect Parliamentary and Presidential elections before 2008, when the next presidential poll is due anyway.