The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) will send an urgent ministerial mission to the Maldives to “ascertain the facts surrounding the transfer of power, and to promote adherence to Commonwealth values and principles.”
The meeting was convened by Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and chaired by Surujrattan Rambachan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Communications of Trinidad and Tobago.
Other members of the Group who participated in the meeting were: Kevin Rudd, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, Dr Dipu Moni, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, John Baird, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada, Senator Hon Arnold J Nicholson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Jamaica, and Joseph Dauda, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sierra Leone.
“CMAG received a briefing from the Foreign Secretary of Maldives, Mr Mohamed Naseer, on the events leading up to and following the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed on 7 February 2012. The Group was also briefed by former President Nasheed. The Secretary-General advised the group regarding his own interactions with President Waheed and former President Nasheed, and the findings of the Commonwealth Secretariat team currently in Maldives,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, new President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan had today asked the Australian government to recognise the new government of the Maldives, which ousted President Mohamed Nasheed alleges is illegitimate following his resignation on February 7 “under duress”.
In an interview with The Australian newspaper, Dr Waheed said blamed international concerns about the situation on a “very biased message that has gone out”, claiming that “it could have an effect on how friendly countries like Australia view the situation.”
“I hope in the next two or three days there will be more understanding of what’s going on here,” he told the paper.
Dr Waheed said he was “not happy” about the arrest warrant for Mr Nasheed, but he would not intervene, the Australian reported.
“One of the problems that led us into this crisis was the involvement of the executive in the judiciary,” he said.
“I know there are some problems with the judiciary, but our democracy is still very young so the solution is not to have one branch of government fight with the other but to find ways of resolving matters.”
He conceded to an investigation into the allegations that Nasheed’s duration was under duress, and “that a half-brother of former president Gayoom had, just days earlier, offered financial inducements to any police officers who were prepared to mutiny”, the paper reported
“I think at the end of the day, he (Nasheed) is responsible for whatever has happened to him, and he should not be looking for scapegoats,” Dr Waheed said.
In the statement, the Commonwealth noted that heads of government had increased the body’s mandate in Perth in 2011 “to consider situations of concern in member countries in a proactive, engaged and positive manner.”
CMAG recognised “the impressive gains made by Maldives in recent years in consolidating multi-party democracy”, and “expressed its solidarity with the people of Maldives to select a government of their choice through democratic means.”
“CMAG stressed that the way forward must be determined by Maldivians themselves, through inclusive political dialogue in an atmosphere of non-violence, restraint and stability.”
The mission to the Maldives will be followed by a report, and a further extraordinary meeting.
Tourists enjoying the sun and sand at the Maldives’ luxury island resorts have barely put down their cocktails during the political crisis rocking Asia’s newest democracy, oblivious to behind-the-scenes links of tourism to the tumult, writes Bryson Hull for Reuters.
Just a 10-minute boat ride from the capital island of Male, site of a police mutiny that led to ex-president Mohamed Nasheed’s departure last week and ensuing clashes, lies the paradise most visitors associate with the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Step off the 15-metre (50-foot) power boat, replete with an air-conditioned cabin and leather seats, that whisks you to the dock at Kurumba resort on Vihamanafushi, and you are immediately in a land of luxury, water sports and relaxation.
The political turmoil, as far as American literature professor Jerzy Sobieraj was concerned, was an ocean away across the glassine turquoise waters at his feet.
“We are having a great time. We heard about the coup, but it doesn’t matter to us. It hasn’t affected us at all,” Sobieraj told Reuters, sipping a glass of white wine alongside his wife, lawyer Ewa Korzan-Sobieraj, on a chaise longue.
President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has announced an “independent and impartial investigation” into developments in the Maldives from January 14 to February 8, according to a statement on the President’s Office website.
Dr Waheed did not reveal who would conduct the inquiry, but he acknowledged the need for it yesterday after Germany and the UK to establish the legitimacy of his government.
The dates given include the period of incarceration of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed, and subsequent protests held by 200-400 opposition-led demonstrators, which culminated in a press conference on January 31 in which opposition parties called for Dr Waheed to take over the government with the assistance of police and military. The event itself took place on February 7.
In the statement, Dr Waheed said the investigation would create “factual and legal clarity” around events with a “direct bearing on the constitutional transfer of executive power that took place on February 7.”
“The investigation would also help establish accountability for any human rights violations which have taken place and thus set the groundwork for national reconciliation and dialogue,” Dr Waheed’s statement read.
“Reiterating his commitment to free and fair elections in 2013, the President urged all political parties to work together in creating a climate of trust and confidence in the build-up to next year’s elections. The President is also hopeful that the investigation, together with his offer to create a strong National Unity Government that would provide impetus for building trust and the establishment of the rule of law, would facilitate the resumption of normal democratic processes in the country,” the statement read.
Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) maintain that Dr Waheed’s government came to power after Nasheed was forced to resign under duress, and have refused to participate in a “national unity government” they claim is illegitimate.
President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik made seven new appointments to the cabinet on Sunday morning.
The majority are hard-line opposition figures, while several are long time supporters of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Only two of the new appointments (the tourism and and health portfolios) have previously undeclared political affiliations.
Dr Waheed has faced pressure from his predecessor former President Mohamed Nasheed, who has challenged the legitimacy of Dr Waheed’s government claiming that he was forced to resign in a bloodless coup d’etat on February 7 at the hands of rogue police and military officers.
Dr Waheed said yesterday that he wanted cabinet to “represent all major political parties”, hoped that Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) would be represented, and said he would “keep posts vacant for them”. The MDP has so far rejected any participation in Dr Waheed’s government.
Mohamed Hussein Shareef ‘Mundhu’ was appointed as the Minister for Human Resources Youth and Sport. Shareef has been the spokesperson for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom since his last term in office and also holds the Acting Secretary General’s post in Gayoom’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM).
Aishath Azima Shakoor was appointed as the Attorney General. She once held the same post under the former administration and is known be one of the most successful lawyers in the country with a record number of wins in controversial cases against Nasheed’s administration. She is a council member of Gayoom’s PPM.
Ahmed Mohamed ‘Andey’, Deputy Leader of leading opposition party Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), was appointed as the Minister of Economic Development. He has been an outspoken critic of Nasheed’s privatisation policies and the state’s budget formulation. He was the former CEO of the State Trading Organisation (STO) under Gayoom’s administration, the organisation implicated in blackmarket oil trading with the Burmese military junta under the former chairmanship of Gayoom’s half-brother, Abdulla Yameen.
The DRP was the first official party registered by Gayoom before he announced his resignation from politics in February 2010, becoming the party’s ‘honorary leader’. He became increasingly politically active and later fell out with his anointed replacement, Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, and formed the PPM after an acrimonious split.
Dr Asim Ahmed, a member of the DRP, was appointed as the Minister of Education. He has not been a particularly active member in the country’s political spotlight.
Dr Ahmed Shamheed was appointed as the Minister of Transport and Communication. He is a member of minority opposition Jumhooree Party (JP) and works as a Director at Villa Shipping and Trade, owned by JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim. He served in the ministry of planning and development under Gayoom’s administration. He is also a director of the Maldives Tourism Development Corporation Board (MTDC).
Ahmed Adheeb, was sworn in as the Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture. Adheeb is the President of the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) is well known as a critic of the Nasheed’s economic policies. Under his leadership, the MNCCI made a failed attempt in court to halt the enactment of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act, citing worse economic ramifications and violations of law. He is a widely respected economic analyst.
Dr Ahmed Jamsheed was meanwhile appointed as the Minister of Health and Family. Jamsheed, formerly Director General of the Centre for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC) resigned from his post, over concerns about reduced workloads, and later joined as the Cheif Operating Officer (COO) at ADK hospital. He is one of the leading and most outspoken public health experts in the country, and has been extremely active in promoting both public health and combating malaria epidemics in the Maldives.
Dr Waheed earlier appointed Deputy Leader of minority opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DQP) Dr Mohamed Jameel as the Home Minister and retired colonel Mohamed Nazim as the Defence Minister last week. Both are also notable supporters of Gayoom. Most recently Dr Jameel, Gayoom’s Justice Minister prior to the separation of powers, was an outspoken critic of Nasheed’s religious policies, authoring a pamphlet entitled ‘President Nasheed’s devious plot to destroy the Islamic faith of Maldivians’ and attacking his “business dealings with Jews”.
Dr Jameel is the only member in the cabinet from DQP, Dr Shamheed only member from JP while including Nazim the ministerial posts held by DRP members reach three and PPM stands at two.
Meanwhile ministers are yet to be appointed to the Finance Ministry, Islamic Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Fisheries Ministry and the Housing Ministry.
Abdullah Riyaz, former Assistant commissioner dismissed by Nasheed was appointed as the Commissioner of Police and Major General Ahmed Shiyam, appointed as Chief of Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).
“No self interest”
Speaking after the appointments, President Dr Waheed said that remaining cabinet ministers will be appointed in a week, and expressed his hopes for MDP’s participation.
“We all are with that hope. Because, today the country needs all of us to work together to establish peace, and take the country out of the deep pit of economic and political [problems] to find a prosperous future for our children,” Dr Waheed said.
He also added that: “I cannot do this work without the benevolent and sincere help of the [cabinet ministers]”, who he claimed had the full potential to serve the nation with “no self interest” during these “special circumstances”.
The newly appointed cabinet ministers must be approved by the parliament, in which MDP currently holds 35 seats, a single seat behind total opposition combined.
Minivan News could not get MDP’s comment on the new appointments as no member was available at the time of press – however, MDP has steadily rejected the legitimacy of Dr Waheed’s government accusing him of participating in what they call an opposition backed coup to force Nasheed out of office.
MDP Thodoo MP Ali Waheed has earlier stated that MDP will do everything to “stop the implementation of Dr Waheed’s every order” through parliament if he continues to remain in office, and ignores the party’s call for new elections in the next two months.
“When David Cameron referred to Mohamed Nasheed as his “new best friend” last November, I wonder if the then President of the Maldives, who was forced from office at gunpoint on Tuesday, believed that Britain’s prime minister meant what he said,” writes Sholto Brynes for the UK’s Independent newspaper.
Mr Nasheed would certainly have cause not to now. True, initially he announced that he was stepping down in order to avert bloodshed after weeks of protests and a police mutiny. But, on Wednesday, he revealed that he had been marched off by soldiers with guns.
“They told me they wouldn’t hesitate to use them if I didn’t resign,” he said.
On that same day Mr Nasheed and his supporters took to the streets of the capital, Male, in protest, only to be greeted by tear-gas grenades from riot police; Mr Nasheed himself and many others were beaten.
If it was an extraordinary reversal for the diminutive leader, who has won worldwide acclaim for environmental policies such as making his country carbon neutral by 2020, the response of the international community must have been a still more bitter pill to swallow. It seemed many had bought the line that Mr Nasheed had gone too far in ordering the arrest of the chief judge he accused of holding up corruption investigations and wrongly releasing an opposition politician. Also that the protests against his economic policies and supposed lack of commitment to Islam in this 100 per cent Muslim nation were proof that he was beginning to act in a high-handed manner and had dissipated his popular mandate.
On Wednesday, India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was extending his “warm felicitations” to Mr Nasheed’s successor, the former vice president, Mohammed Waheed Hassan. On Thursday, the US State Department declared that it recognised the new government. And although Mr Nasheed somewhat bizarrely thanked him for drawing attention to the coup, nevertheless William Hague tacitly followed suit by calling on the Maldives’ “new leadership to establish its legitimacy with its own people and with the international community”.
The facts are these. Mr Nasheed came to power in 2008 in the Maldives’ first democratic election. Blocked from carrying out many reforms because his Maldivian Democratic Party has never enjoyed a majority in parliament, Mr Nasheed has had to deal with a judiciary almost wholly appointed by the former regime, which, therefore, has never had any wish to delve into its violence and corruption.
Taking advantage of this, and other factors over which the president has had no control – such as the rising cost of the foodstuffs that have to be imported into a country that subsisted on a diet of nothing more than coconuts and tuna for centuries – elements of the old regime formed an alliance. They teamed up with the minority of hard-line Islamists and with corrupt businessmen, who knew that greater transparency would threaten their interests, to force Mr Nasheed out.
There was nothing remotely constitutional, legal or even popular about his removal. It was a coup backed by associates of his predecessor, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a dictator under whose 30-year rule Mr Nasheed and countless others had been tortured. The current incumbent, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, pretends otherwise: but he has already appointed two of Mr Gayoom’s former ministers to his cabinet, in the key departments of Home and Defence, and rewarded other Gayoom loyalists with the positions of presidential spokesman and Inspector-General of Immigration. It is believed that he struck a deal at the end of January: he would get the presidency, and Mr Gayoom’s men would return to power.
Mr Hague further displayed no sense of irony in the House of Commons when he said: “We hope that the new leadership will demonstrate its respect for the rule of law,” blithely ignoring the fact that it owes its position to a willingness to dispense with such democratic niceties.
A patina of Islamism is likely to overlay the new regime, and there will be much hollow talk of the need to preserve democracy, but underneath it is a return to the autocratic kleptocracy that preceded Mr Nasheed’s election. A proper taxation system did not exist before he came to power, and Mr Nasheed pointed to that yesterday as another of the motivations for the coup, which he said was “financed by resort owners. They liked the old order of corruption. We were rocking the boat, taxing them.”
Such words should be shaming indeed to the British government. We should never rush to foreign intervention. Frequently it is unjustified and catastrophic, as in Iraq, or diplomatically and practically impossible, as in Syria and Burma. But in the Maldives the case is clear-cut. It is a nascent democracy whose elected leader, admirably, chose the difficult path of reconciliation over retribution. “I’m trying not to prosecute the previous regime,” he told me when I interviewed him at the opening of a new Hilton on Noonu Atoll in 2009. “I’ve never removed my own jailers, only the chief of police. The rest of the top brass are my own interrogators.” Sadly, he appears to have been a victim of his statesmanlike and magnanimous behaviour. For there can be no doubt that it was forces allied to Mr Gayoom, who has been openly advertising his desire to return to power for months, who brought him down.
The international community acted without consideration last week. “It was a clever coup,” Mr Nasheed’s adviser Paul Roberts tells me from the Maldives. “Forcing him to resign, then locking him away so the vice president took office. It appeared all very normal and the diplomats moved too fast. They didn’t get all the facts before speaking out and suggesting the new regime was legitimate.”
Several countries have since rowed back slightly from their premature recognition of the new government. The US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake, arrived in Male yesterday to assess the situation, while India’s special envoy, M Ganapathi, has returned to New Delhi admitting that it was “complex”.
The Maldives used to be a paradise for tourists but not its inhabitants. Honeymooners went there to explore each other, not the country,” writes Moorcraft for South Africa’s Business Day.
“Until 2008, it was the longest-lasting dictatorship in Asia. Then a diminutive but charismatic human rights activist, Mohamed Nasheed (known to everyone as “Anni”), defeated the old dictator, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in the country’s first free elections.
Just 41, the young president was compared with Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama, though he told me of his respect for Mahatma Gandhi. I got to know “Anni” when he was an opposition leader who had been imprisoned 23 times, sometimes in solitary confinement, and tortured by the Gayoom regime. I made TV documentaries about him and his beautiful country, an archipelago of more than 1200 islands.
“Anni” had promised he would give me the first TV interview on his first day in power. He kept his word as we chatted in his office, with furious ambassadors from major states pacing outside his office. The islands are strategically placed amid major (oil) shipping lanes, of interest particularly to India and China.
“Not many Islamic countries have had free and fair elections to form a multiparty democracy,” he said. Despite his own mistreatment, he preached forgiveness to the old regime, because it was an Islamic principle and practical politics. He said Mandela and SA’s truth and reconciliation process were his inspiration.
The previous regime had emptied the treasury. “Our finances are in bad shape,” he admitted. “We can’t consolidate democracy if we can’t pay wages.”
He was always a man of his word, but he faced a huge task of rebuilding his country. Nasheed became a green icon worldwide, not least because he held one of his cabinet meetings underwater, with his ministers wearing scuba gear, to publicise the dangers of global warming. He talked to me about eventually relocating his 350000 citizens to Sri Lanka, India or even Australia — as his country sank beneath the waves.
His victory was a beacon to the Islamic world. Free elections and multiparty democracy without a drop of blood spilled and not a single western soldier present.
So why was such an inspirational leader deposed this week? His supporters claim he was ousted in a military and police coup-cum-mutiny, although it was not that simple. The main issue was that he won the presidency but his reformist party was in a minority in parliament — Gayoom’s supporters were in the majority. Cohabitation was difficult. Also the judiciary, largely composed of ill-educated placemen appointed by the old dictator, was often at loggerheads with the new president. Tensions came to a head in the past month, when the army detained a senior criminal court judge.
Economic factors were also in play — like Obama, the new president created a crisis of expectations. Job prospects, especially for the young, did not suddenly improve when he took over. Even some reformers felt that the human rights activist of old was being heavy-handed with his political (or family/clan) opponents. And, crucially, he was attacked by the Islamist right wing, which argued he was too secular. The Islamist parties had never achieved much in electoral terms, but they were influential — as the increasing use of the veil indicated. And even foreign intelligence agencies fretted about Jihadist growth in some of the outlying islands.
Street protests in the past few weeks were met by police crackdowns, and then old-regime elements of the police joined the protesters. Nasheed explained that his only recourse to this was to call in the small and divided army, or resign. It was a bloodless coup.
Nasheed may decide to contest the forthcoming election or not, but the forces of the old regime led by Gayoom, an Egyptian-trained cleric, in alliance with the fundamentalists, could defeat the more secular reformists.
The deposed leader is, in effect, under house arrest, enjoying the “protection” of the army.
Nasheed became a world icon not least for the environmentalists. A stirring movie about his achievements, The Island President, has recently won awards at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals. Perhaps the visionary leader became more popular abroad than at home; a sad comment on a man who promised so much.
As in SA, lesser men are likely to replace the icon.
Moorcraft is a visiting professor at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies.
President Dr Mohamed Waheed has said he would be open to an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the rapid change of government on Tuesday.
The UK this morning joined Germany in calling for Dr Waheed’s government to “consolidate its legitimacy” with an “independent inquiry” into what former President Mohamed Nasheed and his party contends was a coup d’état.
“I have heard calls for an independent inquiry into the events that preceded my assumption of the presidency. I am open to those suggests – there is no problem with it. I will be completely impartial in any independent investigation,” Dr Waheed said.
“I don’t know the details, or how it can or should be done. I will consult legal advice as soon as we have an attorney general in place. I am sure we will be able to satisfy the call from Britain and Germany.”
Regarding the safety of foreign investments in the Maldives in the wake of political instability, Dr Waheed condemned the destruction of police and public property.
“I believe we have to all work together to ensure this. If you have some parties going around torching and destroying places, it is not going to happen. I call for those kind of activities to cease,” he said.
“I can guarantee that foreign investment in the Maldives is safe. We will not target anybody for political reasons. If there are any reasons for concern over investment, of course any steps that need to be taken will be taken.”
Dr Waheed said he would not approached the US$400 million airport investment by Indian Infrastructure giant GMR “from a political perspective.”
“It is not our intention to harm GMR. Our objective will be to resolve concerns of the public [regarding the company],” he said.
During the press conference Dr Waheed also vowed that the previous government’s social protection programs, including the Aasandha universal health insurance, allowances for single mothers, pensions and other programmes will continue.
Dr Waheed said the new government would also hand out subsidies to fishermen and agricultural workers “to the best of our financial capacity.”
“I have previously commented on the issue of civil servant’s salaries. I will, with the counsel of my government, make it a priority to reinstate them,” Dr Waheed said.
Dr Waheed also spoke about reforming cabinet and said he wanted it to “represent all major political parties.”
Current cabinet positions allocated include Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel – the former Justice Minister under Gayoom – and Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim, a former army colonel. Dr Waheed also appointed former Abdulla Riyaz Police Commissioner, who was previously dismissed from the position of Assistant Police Commissioner under Nasheed’s government.
“It’s going swiftly. Day after tomorrow, I will announce cabinet positions,” Dr Waheed said. “I hope MDP will also be part of my cabinet, and I will keep posts vacant for them. I don’t intend to give a cabinet post to anyone in my party.”
He said he had asked political parties not to talk to him about the appointment of a vice president.
“I don’t want the post to be politicised. I want the person to be respected by the public and experienced, and to be able to lend meaningful assistance to me in conducting my work. I implore all of you not to pressure me on the appointment,” he said.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has circulated a video of an opposition press conference held early on January 31, following an early morning meeting between former Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan and opposition leaders.
The meeting with Dr Waheed included President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Imran, Vice President of former President Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Umar Naseer, and Vice President of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party, Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef.
Nasheed and the MDP contend that his resignation following an attack by opposition protesters on the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) headquarters on Tuesday February 7 – in which element of the police and a smaller number of MNDF officers participated – was made under duress.
Dr Waheed’s government has maintained that the events of the day, including the takeover and rebranding of the state broadcaster, were spontaneous, and has praised the “sacrifices” of the security forces who participated.
“What happened (on Tuesday) was the culmination of a long process of political conflict and undermining of the judiciary,” President Waheed told foreign media during a press conference the morning after the alleged coup, which followed three weeks of 200-400 people protesting over the detention of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed.
“I think it is unfair for anyone to accuse me of joining the opposition. I will continue this government in the spirit of coalition,” Dr Waheed said.
In the video of the opposition press conference eight days earlier, Umar Naseer claimed that President Nasheed had pledged “not to hold elections in 2013”.
“Hence, the December 23rd Coalition, all the different stakeholders of the coalition and all the opposition political parties are calling out to the police and the army to come out and pledge allegiance to Vice President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, and not to implement any order given by Mohmed Nasheed,” Naseer said.
“We the Coalition of 23rd December has decided that from right this moment onwards, to step up the work we have been doing until today, to move things into the second phase,” said Sheikh Imran Abdulla, President of the religiously conservative Adhaalath Party, at the meeting on January 31.
“All of us in the Coalition have decided to pledge allegiance to Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik,” Naseer said.
At the press conference, DRP Vice Presdient Shareef said President Nasheed was a “huge threat to Maldivians”, and had “to be stopped immediately.”
“We believe Mohamed Nasheed has no legal standing to be the President of the Maldives. He has undermined the power of the courts, and completely abolished law and order in Maldives.
“He has tarnished the sanctity of the Supreme Court of the Maldives, and by giving illegal orders to the security forces, started injuring citizens.
“So before we go to a scarier, more dangerous blood shed, we have asked the Vice President to save this nation. I would like to call upon the security forces [to accept that] since the Vice President is a person elected by Maldivians, and should the President be incapacitated to perform his legal duties, the Vice President must assume the duties of the President.”
Recording of the January 31 press conference:
Transcript
Sheikh Imran, President of the Adhaalath Party:
In the name of Allah, the most merciful, the most beneficent.
We had to meet at this late hour because the Government is acting out
of the boundaries of the constitution to destroy the judiciary and disenfranchise the citizens of the country, and because President Nasheed has indicated to us, clearly, that the 2013 elections will not be held.
(And so) we the Coalition of 23rd December has decided that from right this moment onwards, to step up the work we have been doing until today, to move things into the second phase.
The steering committee of the 23rd December Coalition has met and decided, unanimously, that we have to take things to the second phase.
(And so) we went to meet the Vice President, and having met him, we wanted to convey our decisions to the beloved citizens of the Republic of Maldives.
Hence we are meeting at this late hour. Umar will convey what we desire and the decisions we have taken.
Umar Naseer Vice President, Progressive Party of the Maldives:
Thank you very much. As you would know President Nasheed has, beyond doubt, contradicted the Constitution, and he himself has said that, he has stepped out of the chart.
And that he will not hold presidential elections in 2013.
Hence, the December 23rd Coalition, all the different stakeholders of the coalition and all the opposition political parties are calling out to the police and the army to come out and pledge allegiance to Vice President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and not to implement any order given by Mohmed Nasheed.
And all of us in the Coalition have decided to pledge allegiance to Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.
So on behalf of this coalition we are calling on the security forces, to immediately pledge their allegiance to Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.
As you know Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik was elected by a direct vote of Maldivians, and has not acted contrary to the Constitution.
But Mohamed Nasheed has contradicted the constitution, gone outside the chart and has said he will not hold elections in 2013.
Hence we cannot say that Mohamed Nasheed is the legal ruler of Maldives.
In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful.
We had met tonight with the Vice President on behalf of the Coalition to let him know what we think.
We have let the Vice President know what our parties had decided.
As you might know President Nasheed is a huge threat to Maldivians.
If what President Nasheed is doing is not stopped immediately, like what has happened in other countries, we fear that this country might plunge into a civil conflict.
So we requested the Vice President to take over the government, and we call upon the security forces to immediately start obeying the orders of the Vice President
That is because President Nasheed is not the President of the Maldives anymore.
He could have only stayed on as President, as long as he had not contradicted the constitution and does not contradict the law. He is trying to sideline the constitution.
He is contradicting the constitution knowingly, and on purpose.
Hence, as Umar and our Sheikh Imran has already stated, and as we have repeatedly stated, Nasheed who was holding the post of President, is not the President of this country anymore.
We believe Kenereege Mohamed Nasheed has no legal standing to be the president of the Maldives.
He has undermined the power of the courts, and completely abolished law and order in Maldives.
He has tarnished the sanctity of the supreme court of the Maldives, and by giving illegal orders to the security forces, started injuring citizens.
So before we go to a scarier, more dangerous blood shed, we have asked the Vice President to save this nation.
In conclusion, I would like to call upon the security forces, (to accept that) since the Vice President is a person elected by Maldivians, and should the president be incapacitated to perform his legal duties, the Vice President must assume the duties of the President. (And so) we have decided that he has to start performing these duties.
The Government of India appears to have been caught napping in the Maldives on two counts, writes B. Raman for the Eurasia Review.
First, it failed to foresee the implications of some arbitrary actions of former President Mohammed Nasheed such as the arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court and disciplinary action against a Sandhurst-trained Colonel of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), who were perceived to be anti-Nasheed and advise him to desist from such actions.
These actions antagonised the judiciary and created fissures in the MNDF and the Police. These elements joined hands with anti-Nasheed protesters in forcing him to quit as the President.
Secondly, it failed to realise that despite his antagonising the judiciary and sections of the Police and the MNDF, Nasheed retained considerable popular support particularly among the younger generation and was in a position to take the battle against his opponents to the streets. Instead of keeping quiet till the street equations became clear and instead of desisting from any action that might be misinterpreted as granting legitimacy to the MNDF-engineered replacement of Nasheed by his Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan, the Government of India prematurely made statements that were interpreted in Maldives as amounting to India’s abandoning its support to the democratically-elected President.
When Nasheed’s supporters, with a defiant Nasheed at their head, took the battle against their opponents to the streets, the Government of India found itself with its credibility badly weakened.
The result: the Government of India’s traditional position as the sole arbiter of political fortunes in the Maldives has been badly damaged and a number of international actors from the UK, the US, the European Union and the United Nations have rushed to the Maldives to try their hand in internal peace-making, thereby marginalising the traditional role of India. Only China and Pakistan have not yet entered the political fray in the Maldives. If they do, that will be ultimate humiliation for Indian diplomacy at its southern door-step.
We had earlier lost our clout in Sri Lanka as a result of soft and reactive reflexes and we stand in danger of similarly losing our clout -even if we have not already lost it – in the Maldives due to similar apologetic reflexes lacking in robustness of anticipation and action.
In the Net world, one could notice articulation of condemnation of the Government for failing to intervene militarily in the Maldives in support of the democratically-elected Government. Unfavourable comparisons have been made with the robust response of Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, to support the then President Abdul Gayoom against threats from foreign mercenaries suspected to be from the LTTE by sending Indian rapid action forces to the Maldives to neutralise the threat.
The hesitation of the Government of India to send rapid action forces in response to a reported SOS from Nasheed is understandable because the present situation is qualitatively different from what prevailed in 1988. The threat to Nasheed was not from external forces, but from sections of his own MNDF and the Police due to his perceived arbitrary style of governance. If the Government of India had sent the security forces to the Maldives this time, they would have been called upon to act not against foreign mercenaries and their local supporters, but against sections of the political opposition in the Maldives and their supporters in the MNDF and the Police.
Our security forces would have been able to overcome opposition from the MNDF and the Police, but then what about managing the messy sequel – with the Maldivian security forces many of whose senior officers were trained by us turning hostile against India?
The criticism of the Government of India for not intervening immediately through our armed forces is not quite justified. But there is a lot of actions short of direct military intervention which we could have taken – such as visibly and noisily strengthening our direct action capability in the vicinity of the Maldives, to convey a message to the contending forces in the Maldives and to external forces that might be tempted to take advantage of the situation to undermine Indian influence that India was prepared to use its armed forces if needed to protect its nationals and interests, and rushing a high level and stick-wielding emissary to Male to cajole, if possible, and to force, if necessary, the contending forces not to undermine democracy and not to allow any other external elements to come in and partake of the broth.
The Government of India failed to take any of these actions and now finds itself with diminishing options in the face of an unpredictably evolving situation domestically and internationally. In 1988, the international community recognised implicitly that the Maldives was India’s concern and that India had every right to act according to its wisdom.
Even though the situation seems to be slipping out of our hands, we can still retrieve it provided we show leadership befitting a big power and act resolutely on the lines indicated above. Evidence of such leadership and resolute action is missing in Delhi.
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