Tag: maldives news

Ameen Construction to gift 100 homes to Addu City

Abdulla Mohamed, owner of local company Ameen Construction, has announced that the company will build 100 houses in Addu City under a philanthropic effort, reports Haveeu.

Abdulla explained that the Rf6 million (US$466,900) project will begin as soon as plots are finalised while citizens of Addu City will be able to apply for the free housing units through the City Council.

Ameen Construction was recently awarded government contracts for 25 housing units and a convention centre in Addu City, work on which is currently ongoing.

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MPL employee arrested on suspicion of stealing baby goat

An employee of the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) was arrested by police yesterday on suspicion of stealing a baby goat from a cargo ship, according to Haveeru.

A police media official explained that the employee was taken into police custody and handed over to the customs authorities while he was attempting to smuggle the infant goat out of the MPL lorry parking area.

The media official added that the investigation will begin once customs sends the case over to police.

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Police ask banks to track people trading large amounts of dollars

The police have met with the senior officials of local and international banks based in Male’ to track persons who are found to buying dollars continuously, in a crackdown on the trading of dollars in the Maldives.

There are people who take advantage of dollars provided by the banks for persons who require travel abroad for medical purposes, said police.

“Police asked the banks to identify those who take advantage of the dollars that are supposed to be provided to people who need the money for medical purposes, and to share this information with us,” police said.

Police said they also discussed with banks about how to resolve the issue and what measures would be more effective.

“Police discussed the upgrading on banks’ policies to monitor staff suspected of trading dollars illegally,’’ said Superintendent of Police Mohamed Jinah.

Police would identify those buying dollars and collect information the information according to monetary laws, Jinah said.

He also said that Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) was cooperating with police in its special operation to control the black market for dollars.

The special operation began this week after President Mohamed Nasheed during a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally said that he would “put a police officer behind evey dollar” in the country if necessary.

Nasheed said that there were adequate amount of dollars in the country and that there should be no reason the country was suffering a dollar shortage.

After the police operation started, police have been checking suspicious people and places where illegal dollar transactions are likely to happen.

The set dollar rate in the Maldives is Rf12.75, however during the dollar shortage it has increased to 13, 14, 15 and sometimes even as high as 16 on the black market. However banks routinely refuse to change rufiya into dollars, and experts have claimed that the crackdown will do little to address the demand for foreign currency or the budget deficit, which has led to the pegged rate not reflecting the value of the rufiya.

In 2009 June, to ease the dollar shortage, the cabinet decided to give letters of credit facility to importers of basic food items and other necessary commodities to the Maldives.

The President’s Office then formed a committee consisting of senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and the Ministry of Economic Development, to review applications for receiving letters of credit, and give the letters of credit in a priority order.

”The government believes that this measure will ease the problem of the dollar shortage,” the President’s Office said at the time. ”The increased number of expatriate workers in the Maldives has contributed to the problem of dollar shortage in the Maldives. It is estimated that every month more than US$2 million is sent out from the Maldives by the expatriate workers. The cabinet members noted that reducing the number of expatriate workers was also an important measure to be taken.”

In December 2009, Spokesman of MMA Ibrahim NaseerNaseer told the local media that the deficit in foreign exchange is a result of MMA printing a large amount of Maldivian rufiyaa to make up to government spending which was more than the government income.

In August 2009, MMA Governor Fazeel Najeeb told the press that the cause of the dollar shortage was that rufiya notes had been printed in large amounts, exceeding the amounts of dollars in the country and dollars coming in to the country, and had been injected into circulation.

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Bhutanese Prime Minister to visit the Maldives

Prime Minister of Bhutan Jigme Thinley will meet with President Mohamed Nasheed later today, during a visit to the Maldives.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair told Haveeru that the talks would focus on a proposed ferry network to be established between SAARC member countries, and that Nasheed was seeking Thinley’s support.

Thinley will visit the tsunami monument and “other significant places in Male'”, said the President’s office. National Fflags have been put up at the ‘Lonuziyaaraiykolhu’ area near the monument.

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Maldives to face UN committee over continental shelf extension

The Maldives will today claim an extension of its continental shelf before a UN committee in New York.

The claim for an additional 168,000 square kilometres of exclusive economic zone (EEZ), is expected to be opposed by the UK and Sri Lanka. The claim overlaps with one made by Sri Lanka, while the UK will likely want to preserve the integrity of the Britain Indian Ocean Territory.

The UK is likely to vigoroursly oppose the Maldives’ claim given its interest in the US-run Diego Garcia airbase south of the Maldives.

Following a Wikileak US diplomatic cable on the topic, the UK’s creation of the BIOT, the world’s largest marine park in the Indian Ocean was been exposed as less of an ecological project than a means to “put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents” and retain the area for military use.

In the leaked US embassy cable, Colin Roberts, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Director of Overseas Territories, is quoted as saying that the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) has “served its role very well”.

“Establishing a marine reserve might, indeed, as the FCO’s Roberts stated, be the most effective long-term way to prevent any of the Chagos Islands’ former inhabitants or their descendants from resettling in the BIOT,” the cable read.

“[Roberts] noted that the establishment of a marine reserve would require permitting scientists to visit BIOT, but that creating a park would help restrict access for non-scientific purposes. For example, he continued, the rules governing the park could strictly limit access to BIOT by yachts, which Roberts referred to as ‘sea gypsies’.”

National Security Advisor Ameen Faizal, Attorney General Abdulla Muizzu, Deputy Foreign Minister Haula Ahmed Didi, Brigadier General Abdulla Shamal and Major Mohamed Ibrahim from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) are part of a delegation now in New York to argue the case.

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Regional transport links on the agenda during SAARC Secretary General’s Maldives meeting

Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, the recently appointed Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has met with President Mohamed Nasheed this week in the Maldives ahead of hosting an annual summit in Addu City later this year.

Saeed, a Maldivian herself as well as the first woman to be appointed to SAARC’s most senior post, used her visit to discuss a number of the association’s key policies with the president, including connectivity between the various members states through the development of a cargo ferry link.

During the discussions, Nasheed called on SAARC to try a reach a “material outcome” on the transport project by the time of the Addu conference expected to take place in May.

The association aims to cooperate over economic and social development issues and consists of eight member nations that include Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka as well as the Maldives.

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Swimmers complain of rashes after STELCO pipe leaks

An area of Male’s ring road Boduthakurufaanu Magu was closed yesterday after an oil pipeline belonging to the State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) burst.

Six barrels of oil were pumped from the area of the leak, reported Haveeru.

Swimmers at the track have reported oil seeping in the water. According to the Maldives Swimming and Lifestyling School, which spoke to Haveeru, oil has been leaking into the water for almost a year.

“For the past ten days the amount has been very high. No matter how much we wash our swimwear it doesn’t get washed off,” Head of the School Mohamed Shizleen told Haveeru.

“There are some two or three students with rashes around their necks who complain of an oil taste in their throats,” Shizleen said.

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Libyan foreign minister defects while Obama authorises covert action

US President Barack Obama has authorised the use of covert US support for the Libyan rebels, as forces loyal to President Muammar Gaddafi pushed the poorly-disciplined rebels out of several recently-taken towns.

His signature has been widely reported as the first stage of authorising the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to arm the rebels, however neither the CIA or the US State Department would confirm the decision.

Obama never ruled out providing direct assistance, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar have expressed support for arming the rebels.

“It’s fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably could. We’re looking at all our options at this point,” Obama told US media.

Involvement of Western powers in Libya following the UN Security Council’s resolution has escalated from initially disabling Gaddafi’s air defenses in order to provide a no-fly zone, to attacking armour columns threatening rebel-held towns, and now to providing direct assistance to opposition forces.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi’s Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, also the head of the country’s infamous intelligence service, has defected from the Libyan dictator and arrived in London via Tunisa.

Koussa reportedly told waiting UK officials that he was “no longer willing” to represent Gaddafi’s government.

The US was also this week grappling with the fallout of an article in Rolling Stone magazine and German newspaper Der Spiegel, concerning a rogue army unit in Afghanistan accused of killing three civilians for sport and cutting off their fingers as trophies.

Photos collected by the soldiers showed members of the Fifth Stryker Brigade posing with the dead bodies. The soldiers involved reportedly killed the civilians and planted ‘drop weapons’ near the bodies, claiming they were enemy combatants.

After a concerted effort to repress the photos from publication, the Pentagon has apologised and claimed the images are “in striking contrast to the standards and values of the United States Army.”

Five soldiers have been charged with murder and are being tried in a military court.

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Mahlouf calls on DRP supporters to shun “Thasmeen faction” rally

MP Ahmed Mahlouf of the split main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP’s) faction loyal to former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom called on the party’s supporters today not to attend a rally planned for Thursday night by DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali’s faction, and new coalition partner Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP).

At a press conference held by the ‘Gayoom faction’ today, DRP’s Youth Wing President Mahlouf insisted that tomorrow night’s event was not organised by the party, urging members who support the former President to stay away from the rally at Kalaafanu School.

“That is not a rally held by DRP,” Mahlouf claimed. “We urge anyone who supports [the Gayoom faction] not to participate in that rally or even go there to watch the show. They are trying to test something. That is, [to find out] how much support they have.”

The ‘Gayoom faction’ has meanwhile moved its rally, originally planned for the same night, to Friday night.

Earlier in the day, MP Rozaina Adam, sister-in-law of the embattled DRP Leader, stressed at a separate press conference at the DRP office that the purpose of the rally was not to “hit back at others within the party, quarrel with them and call each other names.”

DQP Secretary General Abdulla Ameen told press that tomorrow night’s rally would mark the beginning of “renewed efforts to hold the government accountable,” adding that internal disputes since the end of last month’s local council elections had weakened the opposition.

The rally will be the first joint event by the two parties since a coalition agreement was signed on February 14.

Widening divide

Following the controversial dismissal of Deputy Leader Umar Naseer in December, the worsening factional split within DRP led the party’s founder and ‘Honorary Leader’ Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to officially withdraw his endorsement of Thasmeen for the presidency in 2013.

While Gayoom accused his former running mate of running the party “dictatorially” to protect and advance personal interests, Thasmeen contends that a few members within DRP’s leadership are pursuing “an internal campaign” to discredit and replace him on the DRP presidential ticket.

At a rally held last Thursday night by the Gayoom faction – attended by a number of DRP MPs along with minority opposition People’s Alliance MPs and senior ministers in Gayoom’s cabinet – Umar Naseer read out letters purportedly from DRP branches in the atolls retracting support for Thasmeen.

Umar called on those within the DRP’s front ranks who are “indebted to the government” to “go to the back seat.”

Former President Gayoom addressed the crowd through Umar’s phone – which was held up to the mic – offering gratitude and a vote of thanks to the speakers at the rally.

Also at the rally, Mahlouf’s calls for Thasmeen’s resignation was echoed back by the crowd gathered at the tsunami memorial area; Mahlouf called on the beleaguered leader to either resign or “step aside and pave the way for a primary so that we can have a new leader.”

Mahlouf asserted that he purposely broke the DRP’s three-line whip in last week’s vote on approving members to the Broadcasting Commission “to teach Thasmeen a lesson.”

The DRP MP for Galolhu South claimed that he does not have to follow instructions from a leader he does not recognise as legitimate.

Moreover, Mahlouf warned that Thasmeen would be “more dictatorial than President [Mohamed] Nasheed” should he win the presidential election in 2013, adding that the current DRP Leader would “pursue personal vendettas and target opponents.”

The country would go “into a slumber” under Thasmeen’s presidency, Mahlouf continued, as “even now when he’s trying to win power he spends four days a week at an island in Vaavu Atoll.”

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