Maldives welcomes Commonwealth ‘coup’ probe
Maldives President
Mohamed Waheed |
New Maldives President Mohamed Waheed Monday welcomed a Commonwealth
mission to investigate the ousting of his predecessor after overnight
clashes during protests in the restive capital Male.
Waheed agreed to a Commonwealth ministerial probe into the dramatic
fall of Mohamed Nasheed, the nation’s first democratically elected
leader who came to power in 2008, spokesman Masood Imad said.
“The president welcomes the Commonwealth mission,” Imad told AFP.
“Please come here and see the exact situation. We want not only the
Commonwealth, but others too to come and see what really happened.”
The nine-member Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG),
which deals with serious violations of the 54-nation bloc’s political
values, decided on the mission after an emergency telephone conference
on Sunday.
The Commonwealth Secretariat said the mission would “ascertain the
facts surrounding the transfer of power, and to promote adherence to
Commonwealth values and principles”.
Ex-president Nasheed insists he was removed in a military-backed coup
following weeks of opposition protests. On Sunday, he rejected a US call
for compromise and the formation of a unity government.
His Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters clashed with police
in the capital on Sunday night as MDP lawmakers complained that one of
their colleagues had been arrested and tortured in the southernmost
atoll of Addu.
An AFP correspondent saw police use pepper spray to break up a group
of about 200 people and arrest at least three demonstrators who shouted
anti-government slogans.
Nasheed insists that the way out of the crisis is a quick election
and he has threatened to take to the streets to protest.
“We want an election and we will campaign for it,” Nasheed told
large, cheering crowds at the event that started late Saturday and ran
into the early hours of Sunday.
His remarks came after US assistant secretary of state for South
Asian affairs Robert Blake spoke out against snap polls, asking both
sides in the Maldives to make “compromises”.
The United States has backed the idea of a national unity government
under President Waheed until elections that are due by November 2013.
President Waheed appointed seven more cabinet members on Sunday, but
kept five portfolios open in a sign of his willingness to have a
national unity government.
New Human Resources, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mohamed
Shareef warned on Monday that instability in the country was beginning
to tarnish the image of the top-end holiday destination.
“It has been one drama after another in the past three months or so
with street protests, the arrest of a judge and then the fall of
president Nasheed,” said Shareef.
“There is a lot of negative publicity abroad and it is beginning to
have an impact on tourism,” he said.
Blake blamed both Nasheed’s MDP party and the police for violence
that swept across the nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims on Wednesday and
Thursday.
At least 35 people were wounded in a police crackdown in Male on
Wednesday, while demonstrators on other islands set 18 police stations
ablaze. The MDP said police were continuing to arrest their supporters.
Shareef, a key aide to president Waheed, said several key slots in
the new cabinet were being kept open to entice MDP senior politicians to
join the government and break ranks with Nasheed.
“There are ambitious people in the MDP who feel it is better to join
the government rather than go back to the streets,” Shareef said.
As well as the Commonwealth delegation, diplomats from regional power
India, UN special envoy Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco,
and an EU group are all working to help resolve the political crisis.
The new government has not carried out a warrant issued for Nasheed’s
arrest, following international pressure and fears such a move could
spark more street protests and violence. It has also agreed to probe
coup charges.
AFP
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