Maldives president resigns
Updated: 2012-02-08 08:00
(China Daily)
|
|||||||||
Left: President Mohamed Nasheed (center) stands outside the military headquarters before announcing his resignation in Male, Maldives, on Tuesday. Right: Maldives Vice-President Mohamed Waheed (center) poses as he is sworn in as the new head of state after Nasheed resigned. |
MALE, Maldives - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives resigned and Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik was sworn as the new head of state on Tuesday after weeks of protests erupted into a police mutiny 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," he said at a televised press conference.
Nasheed was in his residence and was not being detained, said Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef, responding to calls from an opposition party for Nasheed to be taken into military custody.
Early on Tuesday, rebel police officers joined anti-government protests that have rocked the capital Male for the past three weeks. They later took over state television and began broadcasting an opposition channel.
Latheef told AFP that troops had used tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with the protesters and police who had gathered outside the military headquarters in Male.
An official close to the president denied the government had used rubber bullets, and a presidential official described the unrest as "an attempted coup" by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who Nasheed turfed out of power in the Maldives' first democratic presidential elections in 2008.
Latheef stressed there had been no military takeover but said the military had "advised" the president to resign.
Opposition's demands for Nasheed to step down have escalated since he ordered the arrest last month of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed on charges of misconduct and favoring opposition figures.
The judge was released soon after Vice-President Hassan took power.
There were already signs the unrest and instability of the Maldives, a country of 1,192 islands, were putting off tourists, who are a vital source of revenue for the country that demanded a bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 2009.
AFP-Reuters
Relief reaches isolated village
Rainfall poses new threats to quake-hit region
Funerals begin for Boston bombing victims
Quake takeaway from China's Air Force
Obama celebrates young inventors at science fair
Earth Day marked around the world
Volunteer team helping students find sense of normalcy
Ethnic groups quick to join rescue efforts
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
Today's Top News
Health new priority for quake zone
Xi meets US top military officer
Japan's boats driven out of Diaoyu
China mulls online shopping legislation
Bird flu death toll rises to 22
Putin appoints new ambassador to China
Japanese ships blocked from Diaoyu Islands
Inspired by Guan, more Chinese pick up golf
US Weekly
![]()
|
![]()
|