Tag: maldives news

Police summon DRP MPs for questioning over parliamentary brawl

Police yesterday summoned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Vice president and MP Ali Waheed, DRP Vice president and MP Ahmed Ilham and DRP MP Ahmed Mahloof to police headquarters for questioning regarding last week’s brawl in parliament.

Waheed told the press that he assumed the police had summoned him in order to congratulate him on the no-confidence vote against Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem.

He said that the police questioned him about several cases, ”including a gathering near the president’s official residence, Muleeage, and about the brawl in parliament. They put the blame on us for everything happening in Male’,” Waheed said.

He claimed the questioning was a result of President Mohamed Nasheed “trying to stop us from making the government more responsible.”

”He thinks we will be afraid and back off,” he said, ”but that encourages us more.”

He said it was the DRP MPs who should have summoned the police, and questioned why they were taken into police custody on Thursday night.

”The government is planning to stop our activities and threaten us,” he said.

Ilham and Mahlouf told the press they chose to remain silent.

Press secretary for the president Mohamed Zuhair said the government had no role in the police questioning or arrest of DRP MPs, and that anyone disturbing the peace of country could expect to be arrested.

”Police will arrest them if they see them indulging in violent activity,” Zuhair said. “They were throwing rocks and chairs at a peaceful religious gathering. It’s like throwing stones at a mosque – police can’t simply ignore the matter because the throwers are MPs.”

Zuhair said he wished to repeat a quote made by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom: ”No one is above the law”, and noted that the MPs were not arrested by ”temporarily kept in police custody.”

”The police will forward all the cases to the Prosecutor General when they have enough evidence,” he said.

”They are blaming president Nasheed just to gain political support, but the public won’t be fooled.”

Police Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the police was not just summoning the DRP MPs.

”We are investigating a case presented to us by the parliament,” Shiyam said. ”There are many independent MPs and MDP MPs to be brought for questioning.”

He said the details could not be given as police were currently investigating the case.

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Akon to perform live in “the biggest ever event in the Maldives”

Well known R&B singer Akon will perform a live show in the Maldives, after he was denied a visa in Sri Lanka because of a scene in one of his videos depicting a woman dancing around a Buddha statue.

Director of Platinum Entertainment Lasantha Samarasinghe, the company organising the ‘Super Fest 2010’ show, said it would be be held at the outdoor cricket stadium on the 23 April and would be “the biggest event ever held in the Maldives.”

“We are expecting 25,000 people to come to the show,” he said, including many tourists.

Samarasinghe said if this event was successful the company “will bring even more Hollywood superstars to the Maldives.”

Press secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that the government had given the permission for the show to take place, saying it “fully supports these kinds of events.”

“It will promote the country’s tourism sector and provide a good opportunity for Maldivian singers,” he said.

Zuhair also said that President Mohamed Nasheed was keen to attend the show.

The show’s main sponsor will be Villa Television, with ‘official drinks’ provided VB Mart and Foco energy drink.

A Villa spokesperson claimed this was “the first time a superstar is performing in the Maldives.”

Tickets will go on sale from Friday.

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Australian architects design floating skyscrapers for the Maldives

Australian architects have proposed floating skyscrapers to be built in the Maldives in an attempt to combat rising sea levels.

The designs, named ‘Maldives Floating States’, were submitted as part of the 2010 Skyscraper Competition organised by eVolo architecture magazine. They made the finals but did not get into the top three.

Architects William Fong, Joshua Loke and Livee Tan proposed that, in case rising sea levels were to flood all of the Maldives, the entire population could be relocated onto 1,000 metre tall floating structures.

They believe this way, the people of the Maldives could continue to live in “its own waters” and not lose its culture and heritage.

They have called their designs “engineering marvels of buoyancy and height” with the proposed structures to be anchored to the sea floor more than 1,000 metres below the surface.

To accommodate growing population, they suggest the towers’ height can be increased or new towers can be built, “like reclamation, only floating.”

In early March, the government signed an agreement with Dutch Company Dutch Docklands to build a floating golf course and and hotel.

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Details of funds pledged at Donor Conference will only be available with donor’s consent

World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Naoko Ishii, said details of the pledges made at the Donor Conference would only be released with consent from the donors.

Speaking at a press conference after the closing session of the conference yesterday, Ishii said some countries did not want to publicly announce the exact figures of their pledges.

She added that many of them had internal procedures which prevented them from announcing the figures at this time, and they needed to discuss and approve the pledges in their home countries before announcements were made.

Senior government officials said many countries’ fiscal years did not begin in January, like Australia and Japan, for example, which meant their pledges would not come into force until the beginning of their new fiscal year.

President Mohamed Nasheed said this year’s pledges surmounted the amounts of previous years because the international donor community did not have faith in the previous government.

He added that donors are confident of the democratic system of the Maldives and the support from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), making this year the most successful Donor Conference to date.

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Girl abducted, drugged, filmed and gang raped by 15 men on Hithadhu

A group of 15 men abducted, drugged and gang raped a 20 year old girl on the island of Hithadhu in Seenu Atoll last Friday night, while reportedly filming the incident wit a mobile phone.

Regional commander for Addu Atoll, Chief Inspector Hussein Adam, said three men had been arrested in connection with the attack, which occurred around 8:30pm on Friday night.

”Two men came by on a motorbike while she was outside her house, and forced her to sit between them,” Hussein said.

The two men took her to an uninhabited area on the island, 30 minutes walking distance from where she was abducted.

”The 15 men forced her to drink a suspected liquid drug and she became drunk,” Hussein said. ”They used box cutters to threaten her.”

Atoll Commander for Addu Adam Niyaz said police were informed of the incident at 1:00am on Saturday morning by the girl’s parents, after she returned home.

Police took the girl to Addu Regional Hospital. Hussein noted that she was “unable to walk.”

Head of Addu Regional Hospital Ahmed Mohamed said the girl was brought to the  hospital on Saturday was discharged yesterday.

”There were no injuries outside her body,” Ahmed said, ”but as she was sexually assaulted by 15 men her sex organs were injured during the incident.”

Niyaz said the three men arrested in connection with attack had many police records involving drug offences and gang-related crimes.

He said Hithadhu police station was continuing to investigate the case.

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Japan to fund 400kWh pilot solar project

The Japanese Government’s official donor company, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has agreed to invest 1 billion yen (US$11.1 million) in the Project for Clean Energy in Malé.

The project would see solar panels capable of providing up to 400 kilowatt hours (kWh) installed in five locations around Malé. By comparison, STELCO’s Malé powerhouse currently has an annual peak usage of 32,618 kWh.

The solar agreement was signed by High Commissioner of the Maldives in Sri Lanka, Ali Hussain Didi, and Chief Representative of JICA, Akira Shimura. The signing took place at the Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka on 25 March 2010.

Feasibility studies for the project were undertaken by JICA in 2009 and the project is due to begin in April 2011 and is expected to be completed by October 2011.

The five selected locations are the President’s Office, Maldives Center for Social Education (MCSE), State Electricity Company Limited (STELCO), Thaajuddeen School and Hiriyaa School.

According to JICA, the project will “promote the utilization of solar energy as an alternate and renewable resource of energy and undertake adaptation measures against climate change by reducing Green House Gases.”

Research officer and local representative of JICA, Mohamed Aiysh, explained that JICA had a major interest in the development of the Maldives and had been assisting with food aid since the 1980s.

As the largest privately owned multilateral donor organisation in the world, Aiysh said JICA’s assistance to the Maldives, and other countries around the world, was “very important to the international community” and a “benefit to mankind.”

The agreement is the result of a request for aid made by the Maldivian government to the Japanese government as part of the Maldives’ bid to be carbon-neutral by 2020.

Aiysh said the Ministry of Housing, Transportation and Environment (MHTE) is JICA’s “local counterpart” and they will be responsible for implementing and running the project.

According to Minister for Housing, Transportation and Environment Mohamed Aslam, that solar panels are “expected to have a capacity to produce 400kWt of solar energy at any given time,” and the JICA-sponsored project is a “pilot work” expected to cut energy costs in the long run.

He said the ministry has three more renewable energy projects underway, all of them in the feasibility study phase.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with Indian company Suzlon Energy for a 25 megawatt wind farm in Addu Atoll.

Another MoU has been signed with Winwind, a Finnish company that builds latest-generation wind turbines, to begin work on a wind farm in the Maldives.

The third MoU has been signed with Falck Energy, also for wind-produced energy.

Aslam said “the vision we have is to make all energy in the country renewable by 2020.”

Ali Rilwan from environmental NGO Bluepeace said he didn’t think the amount of surface space required for solar-powered energy would be sufficient to power all of Malé.

“We don’t have that kind of surface. You would need to cover all of Malé [in solar panels] to produce enough energy.”

Rilwan said wind energy was a more feasible and practical option to replace the amount of fossil fuel energy STELCO is currently producing, but he thought the solar panels are “ideal for powering street lights and park lights. Not for buildings.”

Japan has previously donated the sea wall in Malé, the construction of the MCSE, and the reconstruction of Thaajuddeen School and Hiriyaa School, among others.

JICA is currently rehabilitating harbours in seven islands, establishing sewage facilities on three islands, and collaborating with MHTE in the field of sewage systems.

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Southern Utilities have signed 20 year agreement with Biwater International

Southern Utilities Limited signed a water purchase agreement with Biwater International Limited yesterday.

The agreement was signed by Chairman of Southern Utilities, Ahmed Zareer, and chairman of Biwater International, Adrian White.

Biwater International is a UK-based water and waste water treatment company. Under the agreement, Biwater International will improve the supply of drinking water and sewage treatment in South Province.

Biwater International has proposed to provide potable water produced from seawater desalination plants. They will also treat waste water by sewage treatment plants. Biwater will install pump stations, and distribution and collection pipe work systems.

The agreement stipulates that Biwater International will supply water to Southern Province for 20 years, commencing once the desalination plants are built and commissioned.

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Couple attacked during Earth Hour

Police have arrested a man for attacking two people who were walking during Earth Hour, reports Miadhu.

According to police, the incident took place near Galolhu National Stadium at around 11.30 pm on Saturday. A 26 year-old man and a 46 year-old woman were the victims of the attack.

Police said the man was attacked and the woman injured when she tried to defend him.

Police said the man received a cut on his forehead, but neither victim had serious injuries. They were released from ADK hospital after treatment.

Police added the suspect was arrested on Sosun Magu by Police with held from bystanders on the road, as the man was trying to flee.

The Serious and Organised Crime Unit of Maldives Police Service is investigating the incident.

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MDP holds parliamentary group elections

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) held its parliamentary group elections, reports Miadhu.

Moosa Maniku was the only candidate for the chairmanship of the parliamentary group, and was elected by 20 out of 24 votes cast.

Mohamed Aslam and Ahmed Abdulla were elected as vice-chairs by 21 and 10 votes, respectively. Ahmed Sameer and Mohamed Nasheed also ran for the vice-chair post, receiving eight and seven votes, respectively.

Mohamed Shifaz, Ilyas Labeeb and Eva Abdulla were elected parliamentary whips with 23 votes each.

Hamid Abdul Ghafoor was elected Secretary General of the parliamentary group.

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