Maldives declares state of emergency ahead of rally

Yahoo – AFP, Mohamed Visham, 4 Nov 2015

Maldives police patrol the streets of the capital Male on October 24,

2015 (AFP Photo/Haveeru)

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Wednesday invoked draconian emergency laws for the first time in 11 years, heightening a crackdown on dissent after alleged attempts on his life.

Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon said the declaration of a state of emergency meant that a rally planned by the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) for Friday was unlikely to be allowed.

"Obviously there is every likelihood that it might not go ahead given the situation," Maumoon told AFP by telephone. "Because of the security (in the congested capital island Male)."

The Maldives is a tropical nation made 

up of 26 coral atolls (AFP Photo)

There was no immediate word from the MDP on whether the party would defy the emergency.

However, Maumoon, who is the niece of Yameen and the daughter of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, said the emergency, which gives security forces and police sweeping powers to arrest suspects, was a "precautionary action."

It was necessary because of threats to the president's life, she said, denying that the move was to suppress Friday's planned protest by the opposition.

"President Yameen has declared state of emergency to ensure the safety and security of every citizen," his spokesman Muaz Ali tweeted.

The last time the Maldives imposed a state of emergency was in August 2004 under president Gayoom, the half brother of Yameen, to crack down on pro-democracy protests by the MDP.

Official sources said the latest declaration, initially for a period of 30 days, would lead to the automatic suspension of several constitutional provisions including the right of association and the right of assembly.

Tensions are high in the honeymoon island nation following an explosion aboard the president's speedboat on September 28 and this week's alleged discovery of a remote-controlled bomb near his official residence.

Yameen was unharmed in the boat explosion, although his wife and two others were slightly injured, and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has said there was no evidence it was caused by a bomb.

But authorities in the Maldives have called it an attempt on his life. On October 24 Yameen arrested his deputy Ahmed Adeeb, accusing him of "high treason" and linking him to the blast.

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declared

a state of emergency to to "ensure the 

safety and security of every citizen", his

spokesman said (AFP Photo)

The state of emergency order fast-tracked the impeachment of Adeeb, who could be sacked within days.

Several ministers, a police chief and key security personnel have also been sacked following the explosion.

The MDP said the emergency order was aimed at cracking down on anti-government activists.

"The discovery of a 'bomb' (on Monday) was the lead up to today's emergency," MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told AFP.

"Yameen has jailed or threatened every opposition leader, placed criminal charges against 1,700 opposition activists, and is now turning on his own by jailing the vice president.

"For the good of the nation, it is time for Yameen to resign."

Travel warning

Yameen faces international censure over his jailing of MDP leader Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader who was forced to step down in February 2012 following a police mutiny.

Colombo-based Western diplomats, who are also accredited to the Maldives, had decided to tell their nationals to exercise caution when visiting the capital island Male, a diplomatic source in Colombo said.

Australia had already asked its citizens to exercise "a high degree" of caution when travelling to Male, warning of the possibility of terror attacks.

Every year more than one million tourists visit the Maldives, a nation of 1,192 small 

coral islands dotted around the equator (AFP Photo/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi)

Dunya said the government assured the safety of tourists, a key source of revenue for the Indian Ocean atoll nation.

Despite the political unrest, tourism -- the archipelago's mainstay -- is booming with more than one million visitors a year.

Holidaymakers who pay top dollar to relax on one of the atolls are usually whisked away by seaplane or boat, bypassing the restive capital Male where extra police have been deployed in recent months.

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke in May of "troubling signs" for democracy in the Maldives, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year shelved plans to visit the islands, a move seen as a rebuke to Yameen.

Maldives declares state of emergency https://t.co/mamFQ9igM2 pic.twitter.com/2gnPnLiTBh

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 4, 2015