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MMA auctioning dollars to banks

The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has begun auctioning dollars to banks, which are now able to sell them at up to Rf15.42.

The dollars distributed to banks were previously limited to set amounts. The MMA has declined to reveal which banks have won the first auction, held yesterday, or the exchange rate involved.

Haveeru reported that banks that did not win the auction had not traded dollars today.

The government last week implemented a managed float of the rufiya within a 20 percent band of the pegged rate of Rf12.85, a move praised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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Investigation compromised as documents concerning Gaamaadhoo bones disappear

Crucial files relating to an investigation into human remains found on the site of the former Gaamaadhoo prison have gone missing, the President’s Office has claimed.

President Mohamed Nasheed announced on October 10 last year that DNA tests in Thailand had revealed that human bones discovered on the island a year before matched the age and estimated period of death of Abdulla Anees, Vaavu Keyodhoo Bashigasdhosuge, an inmate officially declared missing in the 1980s.

“The mysterious disappearance of Abdulla Anees is an important case in investigating the alleged torture, violation of human rights and killing of many inmates during the previous 30 year dictatorial regime,” the President’s Office said in a statement, announcing the appointment of new members to the Presidential Commission tasked with investigating allegations of police torture and mistreatment of prisoners in custody.

Amin Faisal, Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad and Mohamed Shafeeq were today tasked by the President with investigating the case of the missing files, “as this disappearance points to a deliberate attempt to hide evidence to obstruct an ongoing investigation.”

A senior source in the President’s Office told Minivan News that following the President’s announcement on October 10 last year, police had been asked to investigate the disappearance of Abdulla Anees in light of the discovery of the bones.

“People want to see justice for what happened,” the source said. “Human remains were discovered and there is a strong reason to believe that something bad happened. However it looks like the investigation has been compromised.”

Minivan News understands that the original file was stored at the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation (DPRS), while copies were kept by police. Both sets of documents were reported missing.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that he had met with the unit investigating the case.

“Copies of necessary documents concerning other government authorities had been misplaced, but they have been but found now,” Shiyam said.

No further documents were missing from the police side, he added.

State Home Minister Ahmed Adhil told Minvan News that the two authorities had been searching for the files “for the last couple of days.”

“Police have informed the Home Ministry that they have located copies of the files, but the original was held by the DPRS and is still missing. We don’t count copies of papers so we don’t know whether any important documents are missing unless we find that original,” he said.

Adhil said the Ministry could not yet say whether the files had been misplaced or deliberately removed, although the theft of the documents “is a very close possibility.”

The Home Ministry had requested police investigate the matter, he said.

“We have to reform the DPRS; we’ve been saying that since this government came to power. There are a lot of weak areas in the DPRS and we have to do a lot of upgrading. These sorts of things have been happening for the last couple of years – this is the culture, and it’s time we faced it.”

Political background

President Nasheed announced the results of the DNA test last year at the launch of a book by elderly historian Ahmed Shafeeq, who contends that at least 111 people died in custody under the former government.

Nasheed said at the time that he was intimately familiar with Gaamadhoo prison, having spent three years there for dissident journalism in opposition to the rule of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

When he heard that the bones had been found, Nasheed said he had wondered if they belonged to Anees.

A former prison guard, Mohamed Naeem, of Gaaf Dhaal Hoadhendhoo Muraka, had told the police investigators that Anees had died in Gaamaadhoo prison.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News at the time that the Maldivian Democratic Party had voiced concern over the disappearance of inmates.

“There were allegations that some were killed in jail and buried,” said Zuhair.

“There were also allegations that some people were dropped in pits where they made lime for construction.”

Allegations of torture and deaths in custody remain a sensitive political subject in the Maldives, as the opposition has outright denied involvement or complicity in human rights abuses that occurred during the former administration.

Officials of both former and current governments have however spoken about a “culture of torture” they claim still persists in elements of the police and DPRS. Many senior members of the present government, including the President, allege abuse and torture at the hands of the former government.

When he took power in a peaceful transition that surprised many analysts, President Nasheed pledged that Gayoom would be allowed to remain in the Maldives and live in peace in dignity as a former statesman, so long as he remained outside active politics.

However that pledge has conflicted with considerable pressure from within his own party to prosecute the former President and those under his administration for a host of human rights abuses, and allegations of corruption. Frustration over perceived inaction led several senior MDP officials to form a ‘Torture Victims Association’, claiming they would seek redress against the former President in international courts.

Gayoom has shown particular sensitivity to such allegations, going as far as prosecuting local media for defamation for publishing official audit reports suggesting, at the very least, misappropriation of state funds.

Following Nasheed’s statement at the launch of Shafeeq’s book, Gayoom wrote a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron claiming that Nasheed was waging a compaign of intimidation and harassment against himself and his family.

“In a book authored by this Shafeeq, which was ceremoniously released [on October 10] by Mohamed Nasheed himself, it is accused that I also ordered the man’s arrest and supposed torture in prison. In a country of just over 300,000, it is safe to assume that even one ‘missing person’ would not go unnoticed, let alone 111,” Gayoom told the British PM.

“All such allegations of corruption, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds and property are basedless and completely untrue, as are those of torture, repression, and unlawful detention during my presidency.

“Nearly two years after the MDP government assumed presidency, Nasheed and his government have failed to uncover a single shred of evidence to substantiate any of these allegations,” Gayoom added.

Shortly afterwards, Gayoom declared that he was returning to the Maldives to help the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), of which he remains the ‘Honorary Leader’, campaign in the local council elections.

The MDP voiced its dismay, aware of Gayoom’s continued popularity in many of the islands, prompting Nasheed to controversially warn Gayoom to stay out of the Maldives “for his own safety”, in reference to the death of former presidents who were killed after their resignations.

After the local Council elections Gayoom spearheaded a split in the opposition, disowning DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali whom he had previously endorsed as his successor.

A not uncommon outcome

Political and social turmoil rooted in the dichotomy between revenge and reconciliation is not unique to the Maldives.

Peter Godwin, author of The Fear: The Last Days of Robert Mugabe who visited the Maldives during the Hay Festival last year, observed that a country’s inability to confront or reconcile with its turbulent past led old wounds to fester.

Transitional justice was a vast subject falling between the two clashing camps of ‘revenge’ and ‘reconciliation’, and mired in shades of grey.

“You can listen to each argument and be convinced by both,” said Godwin. “I think it is one of those things where you have to look at each case separately. But the thing that never works is not doing anything about it; moving on and pretending it hasn’t happened.

“Because that is one of the things that has gone wrong in Zimbabwe. It has festered. You can feel the people seething. And the weird thing is that the children of the people killed and tortured are even more taken up with the cause than the parents. It doesn’t fade away – it magnifies with the passing of generations.”

The decision, he said, should lie with the victims and their families, he suggested.

“It’s very counterintuitive. The victims, who were put in jail and tortured – are the main victims who suffered during the authoritarian rule of a repressive regime. These people have the inherent right to decide what to do.

“You would imagine that these people would be the most radical, but a curious thing happens. In my experience – and I’m not alone, my view is shared by a lot of NGOs – the main thing that people who have been through the firing line want is acknowledgement.

“Not an ‘eye-for-an-eye’, just acknowledgement. The further you get away from the actual victims, the more radical you get. The people who didn’t risk their own lives in opposition – they don’t have the authenticity of victimhood.

What countries grappling with the enormity of such problems must do “is ventilate”, he suggests.

“You have to bring it into the mainstream. You have to bring it into public debate. You have to basically talk it through. It’s odd that the solution turns out to be the ventilation of it, as it becomes acknowledged in the media and public discourse, and ultimately in the way people write their own history.”

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“He just lies there”: desperate plight of the abandoned elderly

Mohamed Solih has suffered from mental illness for as long as people in the island of Kanditheem in Shaviyani Atoll could remember – now at 70-years of age he lives by himself in an abandoned house.

In recent weeks, Solih has lost his eyesight as well as the ability to stand on his feet.

Kanditheemu Island Councilor Nasrulla told Minivan News that Solih did have one son living in Male’” who should bear the responsibility” of taking care of his father in his advanced age.

“It was because of his negligence as well that his father has not been sent to either treatment facilities or taken good care of,” Nasrulla said. “Ever since we remember Solih he has been a disabled man, but he used to walk and there were relatives who looked after him.”

Nasrulla added that Solih’s son, Ahmed Wafir, had been informed about his father’s condition.

‘’Now that he can’t walk by himself he just lies in the same place and can’t even go to his relatives’ house to have meal,’’ the councillor said.

Nasrulla said that when he contacted the son, Wafir blamed the concerned authorities for not providing care for his father.

“He says that he has tried with all the concerned state authorities to send his father to the treatment facility in Guraidhoo, Kaafu Atoll,” said Nasrulla. “And he said that the authorities have not been replying to his letters and have ignored his requests.”

However, Nasrulla argued that the son’s negligence was to blame for Solih’s isolation.

“The family has to work to an adequate level to send Solih to treatment facility,” he insisted. “More recently another person in this island was sent to the treatment facility but it happened only because this person’s family tried to an adequate level.”

Wafir has told Minivan News that he was planning to go back for his father very soon.

“I tried to look after him but it never worked out that way,” Wafir said. “Every time I try to control my father it ends up with either of us getting injured.”

Wafir explained that was unable to stay in the island as he had his own family to look after in Male’: “I was left with no other choice,” he said.

He added that his mother-in-law living in Kanditheemu had been caring for his father while he was away, “but she contacted me and said his condition is far too serious now.”

Online newspaper Kanditheem-online based in the island reported today that Solih’s condition is now critical and islanders have started gathering near the abandoned house where Solih is being kept.

The original article in Kanditheem-online about Solih Mohamed can be found here.

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Young people’s ambitions on the rise, says Four Seasons manager at apprentice graduation

Young Maldivians are becoming increasingly ambitious in their desire to be professionally successful, even compared to the generation of 10 years ago.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for the Four Seasons apprenticeship program, held in Male’ this morning, Regional Vice President and General Manager for the Maldives Armando Kraenzlin observed a change in the outlook of students compared to when the resort began its training program a decade ago.

“The outlook of the students has changed, they have become more ambitious,” he said. “They come to the trainer asking “‘I want to learn a la carte and Flamberge.’ That is not something you would have heard 10 years ago.”

“Jobs were also taken for the money, not because people wanted to start a career or had a vision of themselves as successful in a particular field,” he said, adding that there was a noticeable difference in attitude between young staff starting work now, and those who had been employed 10 years ago.

Student interests had also changed, Kraenzlin noted.

“Ten years ago they all wanted to do housekeeping. Two years later it was diving. This year there’s been a run on the kitchen – 10 years ago it was impossible to convince young men to work in the kitchen – cooking was seen as a woman’s job.”

A ceremony was held this morning to mark the graduation of 30 apprentices for 2011, and inaugrate 40 into the class of 2012. It is the Maldives’ first technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) certified apprenticeship scheme, and claims almost all students get a job on graduation.

“10 years ago if you needed a waiter you would look to India or Sri Lanka, and it was impossible to find a Maldivian chef,” Kraenzlin said, noting that the resort received over 200 applications for the program.

Such is the demand that the Four Seasons’ apprenticeship scheme, which runs at the company’s two resorts at Landaa Giraavaru and Kuda Huraa, has now expanded to the point where it requires four full-time staff.

“We’ve essentially become a school,” Kraenzlin said. “It used to be that we would train apprentices for ourselves, but it has taken time and resources to meet the TVET demands.

“At the same time, there’s no full-time teachers besides the English teacher, so restaurant and housekeeping staff have to embrace teaching in addition to their own jobs.”

It was a balancing act, he explained: “The General Manager should be running the business, not giving wine courses, for instance.”

Despite the extra demands, Four Seasons was looking to expand the program up to TVET certification level three, and then to a full diploma.

“Ten years ago if you needed a waiter you would look to India or Sri Lanka, and it was impossible to find a Maldivian chef,” Kraenzlin said. “Now there are young people saying they want to introduce the world to Maldivian cuisine.”

Tourism Minister Mariyam Zulfa, who attended the ceremony this morning, said the government was looking to replicate the success of the Four Seasons apprenticeship program with other resorts in the country, and was conducting a program to raise awareness among young people as to the professional opportunities in the tourism sector.

“The new constituition allows for freedom of expression and assembly, in cases where employers are not meeting their conditions,” she said. “One way to reduce discontent is to provide training opportunities as well as make a conscious attempt to care for staff.”

One apprentice graduating this year, Yoosuf Shan, said that the course was challenging when he began as he was “totally new to the industry.”

“Another apprentice told me that whenever you reach a tough point, don’t say ‘Why me?’. Instead say: ‘Try me,’” he said.

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Inmates start fire after imprisoned inside shipping container

An inmate brought to Male’ for medical treatment started a fire inside a shipping container in Male’ Prison where he was temporarily kept.

State Home Minister Ahmed Adhil said the inmate was kept inside a container made to keep prisoners.

”He set fire to the pillows,” said Adhil. ”It’s nothing too serious, the media is reporting it as if it is very serious. We are investigating the incident and then we will know what actually happened,” he added.

He noted that prisoners were allowed to smoke and therefore had access to fire.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam also confirmed that a fire occurred inside Male’ prison.

”Police were informed that a fire incident occurred inside the prison,” Shiyam said. ”We are currently investigating the incident, so far it does not seem like it is a very serious issue.”

Journalists present outside Male’ jail while the incident occurred reported that riot police were seen entering the Male’ prison and that inmates were heard shouting that they were being tortured.

A while later some prisoners were brought out and transferred to a boat by prison officers.

A Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) fire vehicle was seen entering the prison, but no smoke was observed.

Persons familiar with the matter claimed that inmates were furious that they had to stay inside the metal container and were desperate to get out.

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Public Accounts Committee summon decision makers over dollar rate revamp

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has today summoned members of government and the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) to present the research behind a recent decision to amend the set US dollar exchange rate of Rf12.85 to within 20 percent of the figure.

Ahmed Nazim, MP for the People’s Alliance (PA) party and a member of the Majlis’ Public Finance Committee, has said it is scheduled to meet with members of the government and the MMA at 4.15pm this afternoon in order to get an insight into the research and statistical information that led to them taking the decision.

Nazim claimed that under its mandate, the Public Finance Committee was not in a position to call for any amendments to the president’s decision to amend the exchange rates, which have reportedly led to banks charging Rf15.42 a dollar to customers – a rate thought to have exceeded prices offered on the formerly institutionalised blackmarket.

The new exchange rates bought into effect as last week were claimed by President Mohamed Nasheed to ensure “longer term prosperity” in the Maldives.  The decision was praised from the International Money Fund (IMF) as being a “bold step” towards providing more sustainable finances.

Such praise came as the country’s Economic Development Minister, Mahmoud Razee, argued that the artificially fixed Rf12.85 exchange rate on the dollar has meant there was little certainty of the exact value of the Maldivian currency in the present market.

However, this so-called dollar float has also led to derision and protests from different factions representing the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) as well as criticisms from some private sector economists that the measures still fail to address the high levels of state expenditure that threaten to shatter any attempts to balance national finances.

Despite the committee itself not being able to propose any amendments to the national interest rate, Nazim said the meeting was needed to ensure the reasons for taking the decision to amend interest rates were just.

“We have been following this [exchange rate] decision and we knew what the situation was.  The committee just want to make sure the correct legal steps were followed,” he said.  “We just have to make sure that they have done good analysis and are aware of the fiscal impact of their decisions in the long term.”

Nazim added that relevant authorities had already responded to the committee ahead of a deadline set for midday yesterday (April 17) to supply data related to the exchange rate decision.

In an article for Minivan News last week, Director of Structured Finance at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Ali Imraan, observed that ‘growth’ in the domestic economy had been driven by the public sector  and “paid for by printing Maldivian rufiya and clever manoeuvres with T-Bills, which the government has used since 2009 to be able conveniently sidestep the charge of printing money. In simple terms: successive governments printed/created money to drive domestic economic growth.”

Imraan pressed for the Maldives to invest in private sector revenue growth “rather than building airports on every island”, and implement a progressive taxation system targeting high earners in the interest of income equality. He also urged the Majlis to uphold the constitutional stipulation whereby MPs – such as those with business interest in the tourism sector – removed themselves from voting on issue in which they had a vested interest, and further suggested that the government resolve the matter of stalled tourism developments “awarded to parties with no money or track record.”

Imraan pressed for the Maldives to invest in private sector revenue growth “rather than building airports on every island”, and implement a progressive taxation system targeting high earners in the interest of income equality. He also urged the Majlis to uphold the constitutional stipulation whereby MPs – such as those with business interest in the tourism sector – removed themselves from voting on issue in which they had a vested interest, and further suggested that the government resolve the matter of stalled tourism developments “awarded to parties with no money or track record.”

“Moratoriums on lease payments or debt repayments may look innocuous enough, but they rob the country of vital growth opportunities and hence ultimately rob the people. We should not stand for it,” he said.

Imraan’s latter suggestion proved somewhat prescient when the Tourism Ministry renewed the lease for Hudhufushi in Lhaviyani Atoll, despite the resort island’s owner owing more than US$85 million in unpaid rent – most of it fines for non-payment.

The government’s decision to implement a managed float of the currency came as a least one local sales agent for international airlines operating in and out of the Maldives closed its doors to customers, blaming an inability to pay the airlines because of a lack of US dollars circulating within the economy.

A local financial expert working in the private sector, Ahmed Adheeb, had also warned that a shortage of foreign currency would reduce the prospect of foreign investment, because of the difficulty of repatriating profits to other countries.

“Dhiraagu, for instance, is probably having a lot of difficulties repatriating dividends to Cable&Wireless,” Adeeb said. “This can lead to a fall in investor confidence. When that happens, foreign investors will either try to exit or stay away. We will only see foreign investment that earns dollars, such as resorts.”

The problem would soon lead to inflation and difficulties importing essentials such as fuel and medicines, he suggested, and could potentially have a major impact if the State Trading Organisation (the country’s primary importer) found itself unable to acquire foreign currency.

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Parliament accepts amendment to Clemency Act to uphold death sentences

Parliament today accepted the amendment presented by Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Ibrahim Muthalib which requires the death sentence be implemented as execution if the Supreme Court upholds a death sentence issued by a lower court or if the Supreme Court itself issues a death sentence.

Out of the 59 present MPs there were 14 MPs who declined the amendment and three MPs that did not vote on either side.

MDP MPs Alhan Fahmy, Eva Abdulla, Hamid Abdul Gafoor, ‘Reeco’ Moosa Manik, Ilyas Labeeb, Imthiyaz Fahmy, Ibrahim Rasheed, Rugiyya Mohamed, Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed, Ahmed Rasheed, Mohamed Aslam, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and DRP MPs Ali Azim and Hussein Mohamed voted to dismiss the amendment.

Meanwhile MDP MPs Ahmed Easa, Ahmed Hamza and Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed were the three that did not vote on either side.

If the amendment is passed the president will not have the authority to grant clemency on those sentenced to death and law enforcing agencies will be left with no other choice but to execute those sentenced to death.

Statistics from the Criminal Court show that over the past 10 years, it has sentenced 14 persons to death which have not implemented. Police later arrested them for committing other offenses.

Before Muthalib presented this amendment, Maldivian Democratic Party MP Ibrahim Rasheed who also voted to dismiss the bill today presented the same bill weeks ago and withdrew it in the last minutes.

Rasheed said he will present the bill after some belated bills in the parliament were passed.

When presenting the amendment Muthalib said the objective of the amendment was to uphold Islamic Sharia in the Maldives.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Justice Procedure Bill presented by MDP Parliamentary Group leader Moosa Manik was approved by the parliament recently and has been sent to the National Security Committee to review.

The Maldivian judicial system defers to Islamic Shar’ia law in cases where existing laws and regulation are found not to apply. In an interview with Minivan News in 2008, Minister for Islamic Affairs Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari claimed that three crimes punishable by death under Islamic Shar’ia were murder, adultery (by those already married) and apostasy.

Critics of the amendment have pointed to the state of the judiciary as a reason for delaying the bill, with one judge last week acknowledging that 31 serving judges had criminal records. The judiciary has also been criticised by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), which questioned the independence of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).

The last person be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi in 1953, who was executed by firing squad after being found guilty of consipiracy to murder using black magic.

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Devaluation marks failure of economic policy: Yameen

The government’s decision to devalue the rufiya and replace the fixed exchange rate with a managed float marks the failure of its economic policy, claims minority opposition People’s Alliance (PA) Leader Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

Addressing supporters at the ‘Gayoom faction’ rally last night, MP Yameen, half-brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and long-serving Trade Minister in his cabinet, argued that the only circumstance where devaluation was advisable was to make the country’s exports cheaper and more competitive.

“[But] if the country does not produce a lot of goods for export, there will be absolutely no benefit from devaluing the currency,” he said, adding that the decision to devalue was both “political” and “an admission of failure.”

Following its inability to deal with the dollar black market two years after the formation of a parallel market, “what the government did was arrange a mechanism to auction the dollars [that they believe is being hoarded].”

The decision to devalue was therefore “political” as opposed to based on sound economic reasons, he said.

Yameen added that he believed the exchange rate would never fall below the pegged rate of Rf12.85.

“Since the way to get a good price for a scarce commodity is through an auction, they had to do this out of necessity and as a last resort, because they have no other way,” argued the MP for Mulaku.

However, he continued, the changes would be to no avail unless the country’s ballooning fiscal deficit is substantially reduced as urged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Yameen went on to lambast the government’s infrastructure projects as well as preparations for the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held in Addu City as “unnecessary spending.”

Conceding that floating the rufiya could solve the black market problem, Yameen however argued that those who had dollars would hesitate to release it if they did not have confidence that the rufiya would not depreciate further.

As a consequence of devaluation, Yameen predicted, inflation would rise by 30 percent: “For a person who gets Rf1,000 [as income], the value of what he can spend is actually Rf600, because of inflation. So, for example, if a can of Nespray [powdered milk] is sold for Rf28 today, with the change in the price of the dollar, we are saying it is going to cost Rf38…the biggest burden will be borne by the poorest.”

To back his assertion, Yameen referred to GMR’s recent 50 percent hike of lease rents at the Male’ International Airport, a decision likely to lead to a corresponding increase in air fare for domestic travel.

President Mohamed Nasheed meanwhile insists that the economy would stabilise over the course of the next three months and that the managed float was necessary “to ensure long term stability and prosperity of the Maldives.”

MMA speaks

Breaking its long silence on the dollar shortage, the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) issued a statement Thursday estimating that allowing market forces to determine a price within the 20 percent band of fluctuation would “solve the present dollar shortage in the near future.”

“We would like to take this opportunity to inform the Maldivian people that the MMA has undertaken various different efforts to solve the foreign currency problem,” it reads, adding that the central bank was in the process of strengthening the legal framework for monetary policy.

The MMA statement reveals that the Maldives had a managed floating exchange rate between Rf8.50 and Rf11.50 from 1987 to 1994.

On April 10, 1994, the floating rate was replaced with a fixed peg, which was then increased by nine percent in April 2001.

While dollar shortages had been experienced “occasionally in the past” due to strong demand coinciding with the Hajj (pilgrimage) or school holiday season, the MMA explains, an expansionary fiscal policy since 2004 coupled with the global recession in 2009 led to the formation of the dollar black market.

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Leaked UN report claims both Sri Lanka and rebels guilty of war crimes

A leaked UN report into the closing days of the war in Sri Lanka contains “credible allegations” that the Sri Lankan government shelled civilians after encouraging them to gather in no-fire zones.

The report also claims the army shelled hospitals, UN facilities and aid workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The report further alleges that the government intimdated and in some cases silenced the media, even abducting journalists is “white vans”.

The report also accused Tamil rebels of using civilians as human shields, forcibly recruiting teenagers to fight, and of murdering civilians who tried to leave the war zone.

A former UN spokesperson for the UN in Sri Lanka was reported in the UK’s Independent newspaper as saying that the report “damns the government of Sri Lanka’s so-called war on terror, which incidentally killed many thousands of civilians. The Tamil Tigers were equally rotten in their disdain for life.”

The full report is expected to be released officially next week.

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