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Adhaalath calls for caution over Jewish doctor visit

The religious Adhaalath Party has claimed the Maldivian public should be cautious of a team of Israeli doctors coming to the country this week to help perform eye surgery treatments, alleging that some medical staff from the nation have been involved in harvesting organs from “murdered Palestinians”.

Citing a press released sourced from the Adhaalath Party, Haveeru reported that the team of doctors, which form part of an organisation called Eye from Zion, are suspected of being financially supported during their visit by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).

According to the release, the JDC is claimed to be a missionary group, though the organisation’s official website lists itself as a body to provide “humanitarian assistance”.
“A doctors’ team from Eye from Zion is visiting the Maldives in this eye camp. Do not think that they are from a normal hospital. We also understand that the doctors’ team is accompanied by an Israeli Foreign Ministry delegation,” quoted Haveeru from the Adhaalath press release.

The party has claimed that it is not trying to create a panic among the public, but added that it aimed to bring attention amongst international media of the alleged “actions against our brothers and sisters of Palestine.”

Haveeru added that the religious conservative political party had also accused the Maldives government of having “secret relations” with their Israeli counterparts.

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Campaigns of disinformation “illustrate the death throes of the fossil fuel interests”: Nasheed

President Mohamed Nasheed has urged students at Oxford University to refrain from working for oil and coal companies who “threaten vulnerable countries like the Maldives and fund campaigns denying the existence of Climate Change.”

In his address to the Oxford Union, Nasheed claimed that the campaigns of disinformation “illustrate the death throes of the fossil fuel interests.”

“It is natural that these powerful vested interests are fighting hard – for they are fighting for their own survival,” Nasheed said. “Their dominance of the world economy is coming to an end.”

Addressing a packed audience of students, President Nasheed urged them to ignore the “lure of the fossil fuel industry” but to “join the new, exciting economy of tomorrow” created by renewable energy and clean tech companies.

In his speech, which was focused on climate change, the President reiterated his call for a fair and comprehensive climate package from Cancun summit.

Nasheed returns from a tour of the UK on Monday.

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Party “needs a president not a conqueror”: DRP spokesman

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef has said the party is best served by current leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali as a force to unite its members rather than turning to a “conqueror” focused on self-interest, following the dismissal of Umar Naseer.

The senior DRP spokesperson said today that following last week’s dismissal of Naseer, the party does not fear a bitter split of its members, yet it accepts it will almost certainly be hindered in upcoming local council elections and in its role as the main parliamentary opposition.

Shareef accepted that the party now faces a serious challenge in light of losing the Deputy Leader, and that it remains impossible to predict whether the party could lose any experienced MPs due to potential discontent with the Naseer decision.

After being dismissed from the party amidst growing animosity with party leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali over an ‘unapproved’ protest, news reports have circulated that suggest Naseer’s departure may have come against the wishes of former president and party’s ‘Supreme Leader’, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf last week told Minivan News that he believes a split within the party could be imminent following the disciplinary committee decision against Naseer.

“[Naseer] is someone with a lot of support in the party, and to date he has done a lot of work for us,” Mahlouf said. “He is very loyal to the former President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.”

Umar Naseer was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

Shareef said that although the termination of Naseer’s party membership had “been within the DRP’s constitutional rules”, it was still likely to create difficulties that the party would rather not have to face given the upcoming elections and ongoing opposition within the Majlis to cabinet appointments.

Yet, in Thasmeen, Shareef added that the party had “a quiet, peaceful leader” that he said would put national interest ahead of self interest instead of acting “like a conqueror”.

“We need a man who is president of a country, not just a party,” he added.

Shareef accepted that Naseer, who was removed from his position of DRP Deputy Leader on Thursday after the party disciplinary committee ruled against him during a day that saw its headquarters invaded by a dozen or so civilians, has many supporters within the party.

Shareef said that while Naseer’s popularity was expected to create “some difficulties and setbacks” for the party, the party was well known for is resilience and would continue to serve as the Maldives’ primary political opposition group.

“Despite these many setbacks and difficulties, the DRP is now the only hope for Maldivians,” he claimed. “People have lost hope in the MDP.”

Several MDP MPs contacted by Minivan News said they did not wish to discuss “the internal workings of the DRP”.

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MNDF says Maldivian waters free from terror threats

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and the Indian Navy have claimed that they have found no evidence of terrorist activities being conducted in the waters surrounding the country’s atolls, according to news reports.

Haveeru reported yesterday that Major Abdu Raheem of the MNDF had confirmed that joint patrols conducted within Maldivian waters by coastguard and naval forces, which included monitoring and searching cargo ships, found no terror threats to the Maldives.

“Our plans for the operation were to cover the entire Maldivian area. We searched a large part of the sea and found no terrorist activities,” Raheem told the paper’s online edition.

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Cleaning community and public places part of Maldives culture: Vice President

Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed has inaugurated a cleaning programme for the Male’ swimming tracks, in conjunction with the Swimming Association of the Maldives and the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports and o clean Malé swimming area.

Opening the programme yesterday, Dr Waheed said that cleaning the community and public places was part of the Maldives’ history and culture, and that development should not mean abandoning such activities.

Several doctors raised concerns in May about potential contamination of the water in the swimming tracks.

Dr Abdul Azeez Yousuf from Malé Health Services Corporation said pollution in the water was a concern, since it is “a question of considerable contamination” and added there is “not an easy solution” to the problem.

The biggest problem, Dr Yousuf said, are all the boats in the harbour. “They don’t have proper sewerage disposal,” he told Minivan News at the time. “It goes straight into the sea.”

Medical doctor at the Central Clinic in Malé, Dr Ahmed Razee, said he has treated cases of gastro-enteritis caused by infections from the water.

“I am able to say very emphatically that yes, people can develop gastro-enteritis from swimming in Malé lagoon,” Dr Razee said.

He noted that “theoretically, the possibility [of getting gastro-enteritis] is very much real,” and “in medicine what we say is if something is possible, it will happen.”

But he added that “as far as the local population is concerned, and people who are continuing to go swimming, even if there was an infection, they would probably all have immunity to it, most of the common organisms.”

Dr Razee said the more “ominous thing is the presence of typhoid in the water and enteric organisms.” He said although enteric typhoid has been almost “wiped out” in Malé, “we do see some sporadic cases.”

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President appoints Climate Care founder as energy advisor

President Mohamed Nasheed has appointed the founder of Climate Care, one of the world’s first carbon trading companies, to the position of Energy Advisor.

Mike Mason was appointed to the unpaid position at a ceremony held at Oxford University in the UK on FriDAY evening.

A statement from the President’s Office described Mason as “a world expert on renewable energy, carbon finance and offsetting”, who would be “tasked with providing the President and his office with strategic advice on how the Maldives can switch from oil based power to renewable energy, in order to improve the country’s energy security and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. ”

Climate Care was acquired by investment banking monolith JP Morgan in April 2008.

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ADB to assist Maldives with its green goals

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced new cooperation with the Maldives to provide technical assistance in setting up investment plans to help the country meet its ambition to become carbon neutral by 2020, Haveeru has reported.

The paper claims that the investment plan will try to outline more specific measures to ensure that the millions of Rufiyaa that will be required to be raised in order to meet the nation’s green goals will be used effectively.

State Housing Minister, Akram Kamaluddin, who is currently in Tokyo for the second Asia Solar Energy Forum, claimed that the assistance of the ADB will allow the Maldives to cut the costs of trying to switch to becoming a more sustainable economy, according to the report.

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Opposition groups back national anti-piracy stance

Political opposition the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and Jumhooree Party (JP) have pledged to cooperate with the government in pursuing anti-piracy campaigns within the country’s waters, according to reports.

During a joint press conference held yesterday afternoon, Miadhu reported that both parties expressed concern about expanding activity from Somali pirates that they claim is getting closer to Maldivian shores.

Gasim Ibrahim, leader of the JP, claimed that piracy within Maldivian territorial waters represents a major threat to the nation and its lucrative tourism and fisheries sectors.

“There are many challenges to the tourism industry even now. Though it might be that the number of tourists has increased, the tourists come here with special discounts,” he said at the conference.  “Therefore, if the tourism industry is further undermined then the economy will be destabilised,”

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Umar Naseer dismissed amidst stormy day for the DRP

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has dismissed its Deputy Leader, Umar Naseer after a disciplinary committee voted to remove the senior politician during a dramatic day that saw growing uncertainty over the party’s future as its Male’ headquarters were stormed by supporters.

Haveeru reported that a special DRP disciplinary committee voted four to one in favour of dismissing Naseer this afternoon, a decision that is alleged not to have the support of former president and party chief, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The exit of Naseer, who has been at the centre of an acrimonious war of words with DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, has led one party MP to claim a split may be imminent within the country’s opposition.

“There will be a split in the party for sure,” DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf told Minivan News following the disciplinary committee decision. “He is someone with a lot of support in the party, and to date he has done a lot of work for us. He is very loyal to the former President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.”

Mahlouf also claimed that the decision to remove Naseer due to disagreements with party leadership was against DRP policy and conventions that he said required a two-thirds majority at the party’s congress to remove a serving Deputy Leader.

Both Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and Umar Naseer were unavailable for comment when contacted by Minivan News at the time of going to press about their respective political futures.

The day began with a group of opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) supporters said to be loyal to Naseer storming the movement’s headquarters and disrupting the disciplinary talks focusing on the former Deputy Leader.

DRP Secretary General Abdurasheed Nafiz told Minvan News that about a dozen or so people “burst into the head office” of the DRP during the morning to try and have a hearing of the party’s disciplinary committee against Naseer dismissed.

Nafiz said the meeting, originally scheduled for 9.00am, was eventually postponed until 11.45am as a result of the interruptions, with further meetings then taking place throughout the afternoon to outline what action was to be taken against Naseer.

The committee meetings followed months of animosity between Naseer and Thasmeen that yesterday led to a similar gathering of protestors outside the DRP’s headquarters.

About 30 people gathered near the DRP’s headquarters during Wednesday afternoon to call for the resignation of Thasmeen. Those gathered also held placards carrying messages in Dhivehi with statements such as “although Umar may be removed from his position he will be serving the nation and the people.”

Just last week, Umar Naseer vowed to take legal action against “government officials and opposition figures who accepted bribes from (Indian infrastructure giant) GMR”, following allegations that surfaced last month on the Dhivehi Post website.

Back in September, Naseer also accused Thasmeen supporters of attempting to dismiss him from the party after the DRP council voted narrowly to move ahead with a disciplinary hearing.

This animosity has led to claims and speculation that a split within the DRP may be imminent; reports that some party members have dismissed as “a media campaign conducted in the interests of” the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

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