New Maldives leader moves to curb ‘anarchy’
Maldive Islands : The new president of the Maldives Mohamed Waheed,
who is accused by his predecessor of taking part in a coup, struggled
Thursday to contain “anarchy” in the holiday paradise as protests and
violence spread.
Waheed made two emergency cabinet appointments -- home and defence --
after supporters of former president Mohamed Nasheed stormed police
stations and burned government buildings in outlying atolls of the
archipelago nation.
“Even though the appointment of a national unity cabinet is taking
time, the president made these two urgent appointments to take charge
and control the spread of violence,” presidential aide Mohamed Shareef
told AFP.
“What you see on the roads is anarchy,” he added.
In the capital Male, thousands of pro-Nasheed protesters had clashed
on Wednesday with security forces near the police and military
headquarters, with unconfirmed media reports that three people had been
killed.
The streets of the city were calm Thursday following heavy overnight
rain that had turned to a steady drizzle by the early morning.
Waheed was sworn in Tuesday just hours after Nasheed announced his
resignation in a televised press conference. Nasheed later claimed that
he had been forced to step down in what was an effective coup d'etat
orchestrated by opposition leaders with the backing of the security
forces.
He said he suspected the coup was hatched with the knowledge of
Waheed, his former vice president, and demanded that he step down
immediately.
Police Chief Inspector Abdul Mannan Yoosuf confirmed that violence in
the capital had spread to far flung atolls, but stressed that tourist
resorts were unaffected.
The Maldives is dependent on tourism and its resorts, popular with
high-end honeymooners, are mostly located on otherwise uninhabited coral
islets.
Yoosuf said police were planning a “joint operation with the armed
forces” to bring the situation under control.” It is the Maldives' worst
unrest since clashes in 2003 following the death of an inmate at the
hands of security forces, an event which sparked the process of
democratic change on the Indian Ocean islands.
In Washington, the State Department called for calm and said a senior
US envoy would visit the Maldives on Saturday, but stopped short of
describing events there as a coup -- a designation requiring a cutoff of
all aid under US law. In an op-ed piece published in the New York Times,
Nasheed reiterated his charge that a coup had taken place, and said the
Maldives was sliding back into the era of “dictatorship” that preceded
its first democratic elections in 2008.
“Let the Maldives be a lesson for aspiring democrats everywhere: the
dictator can be removed in a day, but it can take years to stamp out the
lingering remnants of his dictatorship,” Nasheed wrote.
Both Waheed and the army have categorically denied the coup charges,
although a military spokesman admitted officers had “advised” him to
step down. AFP
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