A former political prisoner who unseated Asia’s longest-serving leader as president of the Maldives was sworn into office yesterday, taking charge of a nation he fears could soon disappear.
Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed, 41, took his oath of office at a ceremony televised live from a convention center in the capital island Male where he began his pro-democracy campaign in 1990 as a journalist for an underground magazine.
He was in and out of jail for a period of six years under former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had led the nation for 30 years before he allowed democratic reforms and was beaten in an Oct. 28 run-off election.
PHOTO: AFP
Nasheed has already hit the headlines with his idea to take out insurance in case the Indian Ocean atoll nation, a top luxury tourism getaway, is swamped by rising sea levels.
A 1m rise would almost totally submerge the country’s 1,192 coral islands scattered off the southern tip of India. Experts predict a rise of at least 18cm is likely by the end of the century.
“I don’t want Maldivians to end up as environmental refugees in some camp,” Nasheed told reporters at his first press conference after winning the election.
“We are talking about taking insurance — if the islands are sinking we must find highland some place close by. We should do that before we sink,” he said.
Nasheed told Britain’s Guardian newspaper that he had already broached the subject of finding a new homeland for Maldivians with several countries and found them to be “receptive.”
India and Sri Lanka are targets because they had similar cultures and climates, while vast Australia was also an option.
Aside from global warming, Nasheed faces a host of other challenges as he begins his five-year term.
There is a danger of civil unrest after decades of one-party rule under ousted president Gayoom, a need to release political prisoners and push through a series of promised reforms in the new democracy.
“There should be no political prisoners in the Maldives,” Nasheed said. “That is clear and we will very quickly look into the cases of those who are being held.”
The new president will also have to steer the economy through some difficulties, with crucial tourism earnings — driven by well-heeled visitors to island resorts offering white-sand beaches and crystal clear water — set to dip because of the global financial crisis.
Nasheed said that he was seeking about US$300 million in emergency international aid to restore economic stability in the nation of 300,000 Sunni Muslims.
Although the islands are best known as a luxury holiday destination, about 40 percent of the population earn less than a dollar a day and are clamoring for a greater share of tourist revenues.
The country also faces a serious drug problem, with one out of three youngsters in the country affected.
Nasheed has promised to improve healthcare and links between remote islands, to privatize state enterprises and to turn the presidential palace into the country’s first university.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
RSS