Tag: MNDF

MNDF launch basic diving course for international military personnel

Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has initiated a basic diving program to be used by international military personnel, local media have reported.

Entitled ‘MNDF Coast Guard Basic Diving Course’, Defence Minister Colonel Mohamed Nazim told local media that the course is the first to be organised by the MNDF and used by foreign ministry personnel.

“The first course will include personnel from the Indian Coast Guard, Sri Lankan Navy, Nepalese Special Forces, and 12 personnel from MNDF. I believe that this course will be successful in every way, and that more countries will participate in the future,” Nazim was quoted as saying in Sun Online.

Lieutenant Mohamed Shareef of the MNDF coast guard told members of the press that the diving course will continue for a period of two months, during which participants will learn how to appropriately handle situations they may face underwater.

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Stranded container ship in Male’ refloated: MNDF

A container ship was yesterday (Janaury 7) stranded in waters on the eastern side of Male’ for three hours before tug boats were able to successfully refloat the vessel, local media has reported.

Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Spokesperson Colonel Abdul Raheem told Minivan News last night that the ship, called Auguste Schulte, sailed under a Liberian flag.

The MNDF told local media that while the ship itself did not suffer much damage from the incident, investigations would be carried out on the reef where the boat had been stuck.

Should any damage be found on the reef, a fine of MVR 85,000 (US$ 5508) per square metre of damaged reef will be imposed, an official from the Transport Authority told the Sun Online news agency.

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Container ship “stuck” in Male’ waters, MNDF confirms

A Liberian container ship called the ‘Auguste Schulte’ has this evening become stuck within waters surrounding Male’, Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Spokesperson Colonel Abdul Raheem has confirmed.

According to Colonel Raheem, the carrier ship, situated directly off the coast of the Raalhugandu area in Male’, was being assisted by MNDF coastguard vessels in order to get the boat moving.

Raheem stated that he is yet to receive any information on how the ship became stuck.

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MNDF military hospital to provide medical services to immigration department

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) military hospital is to begin to provide medical services to employees of the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

Defence Minister Colonel Mohamed Nazim was quoted in local media as saying that all services of the military hospital are now available under Aasandha to the employees of the immigration department.

“Employees of Immigration Department and their families can obtain medical treatment under Aasandha from the military hospital. This includes their husbands and wives. We are trying to provide the best medical services to our employees,” he told Sun Online.

The Department of Immigration and Emigration was recently transferred from the under the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Ministry of Defence.

According to the President’s Office, the decision to transfer the department was taken to make administration of the country’s immigration system more efficient.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) last week questioned the legality of the decision to transfer control of the Department of Immigration and Emigration to the Defence Ministry.

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Opposition expresses concern at defence spending hike in 2013 budget

Additional reporting by Ahmed Naish.

Budget Review Committee Member and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed has revealed his party held “concerns” over the level of increased defence spending in the recently approved 2013 budget.

The 2013 state budget included a 14 percent increase to the 2012 defence budget that stood at MVR 797.9 million (US$51.7 million).

Amidst attempts to reduce the state’s budget deficit, MVR 130 million (US$8.6million) had been allocated to defence spending, bringing the total to MVR 930.9 million (US$60.3 million) for this year.

Authorities claim that the increased spending for the year is needed to cover additional duties such as the transfer of aviation security under the Ministry of Defence.

Through the budget review committee’s evaluation of the state budget, MP Nasheed claimed  that he and other members of the MDP had raised questions regarding the increase in the defence budget.

“While we understand national security is paramount, we did find the 14 percent increase to the defence budget a bit fishy,” he claimed. “We [MDP budget review committee members] raised questions regarding our concern over the increase, but unfortunately we do not have the majority on the committee.”

In order to reduce the budget deficit, the budget review committee made cuts of MVR 1.6 billion (US$103.7 million) to the MVR 16.9 billion (US$1 billion) state budget proposed by Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad. Parliament eventually passed an amended MVR 15.3 billion (US$992 million) state budget.

According to the Budget Review Committee report, the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) advised the committee to reduce total expenditure to MVR 15 billion and attempt to reduce public debt.

Despite the recommendations, Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim this week defended the MVR 130 million increase,  telling Minivan News that the money was needed to accommodate the newly established Aviation Security Command.  The operations have been put under the Ministry of Defence and National Security.

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik announced the establishment of the Aviation Security Command On Tuesday (January 1) in order to formulate aviation security policies and procedures.

Aside from undertaking new responsibilities under the Aviation Security Command, Defence Minister Nazim said additional improvements for Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) personnel welfare were also being sought.

“We are also looking to improve accommodation for MNDF personnel, and we will be looking to open an operating theatre and Intensive care unit in the military hospital,” said Nazim.

When asked as to why the military hospital needed to be expanded given the size of the MNDF, Nazim said that uniformed personnel waiting in line to receive treatment at the other two hospitals in Male’ wasted valuable service time.

“The hospital is not just utilised by the military, it is also used by the police force and immigration and customs officers,” he added.

When addressing the issue of increased defence spending within the budget, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP and budget review committee member Dr Abdulla Mausoom said that national security was an important consideration needing to be made.

“You are talking about national security, and now aviation security for a whole country. Yes the budget is more than reasonable. The DRP is under no influence from the government and this time we are not concerned over the increase in the defence budget,” Mausoom said.

New uniforms and new accommodation for MNDF

Speaking at a ceremony on Monday (December 31, 2012) to unveil new uniforms for naval officers, Defence Minister Nazim said that efforts were underway to arrange accommodation for more officers at MNDF centres.

“Equipment has been purchased to arrange accommodation for officers. After the repairs, more officers will get accommodation in the next three months,” Nazim was quoted as saying.

The new accommodation would be provided at the MNDF Bandaara Koshi and Kalhuthu’kala Koshi in Male’, Nazim said.

Nazim said that efforts were also being made to arrange for low cost medical treatment for MNDF officers and their families overseas.

Providing accommodation to MNDF officers was discontinued as part of cost-cutting measures implemented by the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

During last month’s budget debate, parliament’s Majority Leader, MDP MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, criticised the Finance Minister for failing to mention in his budget speech plans to hire 864 new police and army officers.

MP Solih, parliamentary group leader of the MDP (MDP), noted that the wage bill would shoot up 37 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year.

Echoing the concerns of the parliamentary group leader, MDP MP Eva Abdulla revealed that MVR 6 million (US$ 389105) was added to the budget of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) following the controversial transfer of presidential power on February 7.

Former President Nasheed has alleged that he was forced to resign from office under “duress” in the wake of a police mutiny on February 7. Eva raised concerns that the police and army have hired 250 and 350 new staff respectively under the new government.

Consequently, both institutions found to have spent more than MVR 75 million (US$4.8 million) in addition to the approved budgets for 2012, she claimed.

Eva observed that the increase in the government’s wage bill of 37 percent was approximately MVR1.7 billion (US$110 million), which was also the amount allocated for harbour construction in the 2013 budget.

These funds should instead be spent for “harbours, education, sewerage and housing,” she argued.

Defence budget breakdown

Of the MVR930.9 million assigned for the military, MVR 805.4 million (US$52.2 million) is to be spent on military defence and MVR 125.5 million (US$8.1 million) on civil defence, according to the defence budget proposal last month.

Moreover, defence expenditure under the Public Sector Investment Projects (PSIP) include MVR 3.1 million (US$201,000) for the construction of a troops accommodation building in Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo and MVR 1.9 million (US$123,216) for a military barracks in Laamu Kadhdhoo.

Following the controversial transfer of presidential power in February, where sections of the police and military mutinied against the former government, an allowance of military personnel pending for more than two years was disbursed in a single payment by the Waheed administration.

Local media reported at the time that some officers had received over MVR6000 (US$390) in accrued allowances, although a total figure spent on the pay out, or how many officers received the allowances, was not stated.

MVR 1.1 billion has been budgeted to pay salaries and allowances for 7,108 personnel in the uniformed bodies.

The figure in the 2012 budget was MVR 999 million for 6,244 army and police officers.

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MPs to receive special protection from MNDF security force

Parliament members are to receive security from Maldives National Defence Force’s (MNDF) Special Protection Group (SPG) starting this year.

Spokesman for MNDF Colonel Abdul Raheem told local media yesterday (January 2) that a security arrangement with the SPG would be available to MPs in Male’ should they request it.

According to local media, the SPG is made up of 178 specially trained military personnel.

Until now, the SPG has been responsible for the security of the President, Vice President and other well-known figures political and legal figures in the country.

However, under Article 105 (b) of the constitution, state security services are to provide protection and safety to members of parliament.

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Department of Immigration and Emigration transferred to Defence Ministry

Responsibility for overseeing the Department of Immigration and Emigration has been switched to the Ministry of Defence and National Security.

According to the President’s Office, the decision to transfer the department to within the mandate of the Ministry of Defence was taken to make administration of the country’s immigration system more efficient.

The Immigration department had previously been operated under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali was not responding to calls at the time of press.

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Police launch investigation into sinking of Hivvaru boat

Police have launched an investigation into the sinking of ‘Hivvaru’ boat which was found about 10 days after it went missing.

Out of the ten crew members aboard the vessel, a 76-year-old Maldivian man and a Bangladeshi national both died after the boat capsized due to rough seas.

A police media official said that a marine police team is presently active in Addu City for the investigation, local media reported.

The Hivvaru boat was found by a Sri Lankan Fishing vessel, before the coast guard travelled to bring the survivors back to Addu City last Tuesday (December 11).

Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) told how the boat captain had said the Bangladeshi and Maldivian died while they were on-board a dinghy after Hivvaru began to sink, and that their bodies were disposed of into the sea, Sun Online reported.

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‘Hihvaru’ survivors arrive in Addu City

A Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) search team yesterday returned to the Maldives with the eight survivors found aboard the boat ‘Hihvaru’, which was lost and later capsized while travelling to Huvadhu Atoll from Male’.  The vessel originally departed with nine men and a child aboard.

However, authorities confirmed Tuesday (December 10) that a foreign national and a 76 year-old male from Rathafandhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll had died before they could be located by the rescue team.

According to the MNDF, the eight survivors were brought to Addu City and immediately admitted to Hithadhoo Regional Hospital for treatment after arriving yesterday (December 11) at 8:00pm.

The right survivors were said by the MNDF to be in good health upon their arrival in Addu City, with no one critically injured.

Robbery allegations

Local newspaper Sun Online today reported allegations made by the captain of the ‘Hihvaru’ boat that he and his passengers had been robbed of money by the crew of the Sri lankan vessel who first discovered them.

The crew of the Sri Lankan fishing boat were accused of robbing US$120 from the passengers on ‘Hihvaru’, according to ‘Sun’.

According to the MNDF website, the ‘Hihvaru’ set sail from Male’ on November 28 at 7:00pm, heading towards Huvadhu Atoll with 10 passengers aboard, including an 11 year-old boy. The boat was also loaded with goods to be taken to Huvadhu Atoll.  The defence force has confirmed that two of the 10 passengers were Bangladeshi nationals.

The coastguard had begun searching for the vessel with assistance from the Indian government on November 29 after the boat was first declared missing.

The MNDF has said in a statement that a Sri Lankan boat had discovered the eight men hanging from the capsized vessel 290 miles off the island of Dhaandhoo in Gaa Alifu Atoll.

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