New Maldives president vows to uphold rule of law

Maldives’ Vice President Mohamed Waheed (C) poses as he is sworn in as the new head of state yesterday in Male

The newly appointed president of the Maldives Mohamed Waheed vowed to uphold the “rule of law” yesterday in a statement issued just hours after the dramatic resignation of his predecessor, Mohamed Nasheed.
“At any cost, the rule of law must be upheld,” Waheed said in a public statement posted on the presidential website.
Stressing the need for political differences to be put aside, Waheed warned that “no law must be violated in any revenge against the past political leaders,” the statement said.
Waheed, who was Nasheed’s vice president, had been swiftly sworn in as the new head of state following the resignation announcement.
Nashhed, Maldives’ first democratically-elected president resigned yesterday after a mutiny by police described by his office as an attempted coup, capping three weeks of political upheaval in the holiday paradise.
“It will be better for the country in the current situation if I resign. I don’t want to run the country with an iron-fist. I am resigning,” President Mohamed Nasheed told a televised press conference.
His announcement came as police officers joined anti-government protests that have rocked the capital Male for the past three weeks.
But the Maldives military denied yesterday that a coup had taken place in the island nation.
“It is not a coup. Definitely not a coup,” spokesman Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef told AFP by telephone from the Maldives capital Male, hours after Nasheed announced he was stepping down.
While insisting the army had not forced Nasheed’s hand, Latheef said: “The military advised the president to resign today. It was his initiative.”
Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef said troops had used tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with protestors and police who had gathered outside the military headquarters in Male.
“The sporadic clashes began after midnight and continued until 8:00am (0300 GMT),” Latheef said.
Police also took over the state television station and began broadcasting an opposition channel.
Opposition demands for Nasheed to step down had escalated since he ordered the arrest last month of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed on charges of misconduct and favouring opposition figures.
Nasheed, a former political prisoner, was elected in 2008 when the Maldives staged its first democratic presidential election, unseating the long-serving autocratic regime of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The Maldives, a country of 1,192 Indian Ocean islands scattered across the equator, is famous for its upmarket holiday resorts and hotels that cater for honeymooning couples and high-end travellers.
Problems, including high youth unemployment, a widespread illegal drug use problem, an increasing rise in Islamic fundamentalism and a downturn in tourism due to the weakening global economy, have fuelled discontent against Nasheed’s rule.
As a political activist, Nasheed, who was an outspoken critic of Gayoom’s one-party rule, was at one point an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.
He formed the Maldivian Democratic Party in exile but then returned home to a hero’s welcome, sweeping 54 percent of the vote in the 2008 elections whose results brought people out into the streets dancing and cheering.