Maldives: "Tango... Bravo... Red Alert"
By Nick Grace
January 24, 2006
"TANGO... BRAVO... RED ALERT" reads the headline on the front page of the DhivehiObserver.com, an independent and pro-democracy Maldivian Web site based in the UK. Peaceful demonstrations are getting underway in the Maldives, an archipelago of 26 coral atolls that sprawl across the Indian Ocean to the southwest of Sri Lanka in a strategic location where US$200 billion of the world's maritime traffic passes through. As the political opposition, an opposition that has increasingly witnessed a campaign of intimidation, gears up to rally for change, the government is unleashing a campaign in an attempt to minimize the expected large turnout.
The nationwide demonstrations are being organized by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the main democratic opposition to the 28-year long rule of Maumoon Gayyoom. Beginning at 2 pm local time in Male' (UTC+5) the demonstrations are expected to gain momentum later in the evening and will roll into Wednesday, when the MDP's chairman Mohammad Nasheed, also known as Anni, is scheduled to go on trial for treason and sedition - charges that carry a minimum of 20 years imprisonment.
Clandestine Radio Watch (CRW) reached Anni through opposition sources and he said that the regime refuses to disclose its evidence against him. He was arrested in August 2005 while participating in a peaceful demonstration and is currently under house arrest.
The next few hours, he said, are critical and the entire opposition remains unafraid.
Article 26 of the Maldivian Constitution clearly provides for the freedom of assembly, stating that "Persons shall be free to assemble peaceably and in a manner that does not contravene the law." Yet the Maldivian Ministry of Home Affairs has released a press release warning the public from participating in the MDP's rallies. "The demonstration that the Party has planned is not permitted by the constitution," it states. "This demonstration will also undermine the peace and security of the nation. This is a public statement to inform all that any participation in the protest of demonstration is not permitted."
As the MDP is beginning to warn its 40,000 members of potential violence and even mass kidnappings, opposition sources tell CRW that they fear a 1,000-strong militia is being organized by the state security service, the NSS, to provoke violence that can be blamed on the demonstrators. A recent campaign of violence in Male' that included firebomb attacks on government buildings resulted in finger pointing by both sides.
Olhuala.com, an anti-MDP propaganda site, is already warning that the protests "will end in bloodshed." The site carries photos of an alleged weapons stash of iron bars, knives and petrol bombs that the regime claims was recently discovered. This site, along with a site called FactMaldives.com, is also claiming that the opposition will use children as "human shields."
The MDP, meanwhile, is encouraging its members to find inner courage and strength at this critical moment. The pro-democracy Web site MinivanNews.com quotes MDP Vice President IH Zaki calling "for your bravery to increase from day to day, for your resolve to become stronger and for your courage and spirit."
Traffic on pro-democracy Web sites is already exceeding 100,000 visitors per day and the UK-based Friends of Maldives organization has resumed its daily short wave broadcasts, called Minivan Radio, to counter the messages of state-run media.
Meanwhile, as events unfold in the Maldives, propaganda on the Web continues to heat up.
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