Arrest warrant for Maldives ex-President

A judge issued an arrest warrant yesterday for the ex-President of the Maldives, who says he was forced from office in a coup, as troops were deployed to restore order. Police said they were holding the warrant for Mohamed Nasheed, but had yet to execute the order.

“We can arrest him when we feel the need for it. We have to be careful and tactical as to how and when we do it,” Police Spokesman Abdul Mannan Yusuf told AFP. Nasheed, who has hunkered down at his modest family home in the capital Male since losing the presidency on Tuesday, appealed for urgent foreign help.

“They have issued a warrant to arrest me now and said that I will be the first former president to spend the rest of his life in jail,” he told AFP. “I hope the international community will take note and do something right now.” While dozens of his supporters surrounded the three-storey home, elsewhere in the country the police and army struggled to re-take control after a night described by a presidential aide as “anarchy”.

Maldives Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyas said 18 police stations had been attacked on outlying islands in the archipelago, while numerous court and government buildings had been looted and torched.

The images of rioting are potentially devastating for a country which depends on tourism thanks to its crystal-clear turquoise waters, coral-fringed beaches and ultra-luxury resorts.

Although resort managers and tour agents have reported only a small number of cancellations, the unrest that followed Nasheed’s ousting has begun inching closer to key tourist infrastructure.

“The violence has tarnished our image, we have become just another Middle East country with violence on the streets,” Mohamed Sim Ibrahim, the secretary general of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry, told AFP. The clashes escalated on Wednesday when thousands of Nasheed supporters massed in Male.

“What happened is utterly disgraceful and it is the saddest day in the modern history of Maldives,” newly appointed Home Minister Mohammed Jamil Ahmed told AFP. After small skirmishes in which stones were thrown at police, officers then attacked demonstrators in the capital with batons and beat a number of senior figures of Nasheed’s party, several of whom were hospitalised. AFP

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President Rajapaksa requests Maldivian President:

Ensure safety of ex- President

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday requested Maldivian President Dr Mohamed Waheed to ensure the safety of former President Mohamed Nasheed, Presidential Spokesman and International Media Advisor Bandula Jayasekara said yesterday. President Waheed assured President Rajapaksa that he would ensure the safety of the former President.

Former Maldivian President Nasheed’s wife Laila who arrived in Sri Lanka, also contacted President Mahinda Rajapaksa over the telephone yesterday.

President Rajapaksa telephoned former Maldivian President Nasheed and inquired about his safety. President Rajapaksa also instructed IGP N K Illangakoon to provide security to the wife of the former Maldivian President who is in Sri Lanka.

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