Mohamed Nasheed, Former Maldives President, Criticizes U.S. For Recognizing New Government

MALE, Maldives — The United States on Friday backtracked from its swift recognition of the new Maldives government, which the nation's former leader claims came to power in a coup.

The Maldives has faced one day of rioting and two days more of a political standoff since Mohamed Nasheed announced Tuesday that he was resigning as president, following months of protests against his rule and fading support from the security forces. But the next day Nasheed, who now faces an arrest warrant, announced he had actually been pushed from power at gunpoint. The reality remains unclear.

Nasheed criticized Washington after the State Department said Thursday it recognized the new government as legitimate.

"It's unfortunate that the American government has decided to work with the regime," Nasheed told reporters.

On Friday in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the circumstances in the Maldives are murky and contested. "I got myself in a place yesterday that was not borne out by the facts," she told a news briefing.

"We will work with the government of the Maldives, but believe that the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power need to be clarified. And we also suggest that all parties agree to an independent mechanism to do that," she said.

Asked whether there had been an extraconstitutional change in power, she said the U.S. does not yet have a clear view of the facts, but would expect to have a clearer idea after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake visits Male, arriving Saturday.

Blake will meet with new President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Nasheed and representatives of all political parties, Nuland said.

Meanwhile, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco met Friday with Hassan, hoping to ease the political situation, and was expected to meet later with Nasheed. Fernandez-Taranco declined to make any comments after his meeting.

The new government insists Nasheed stepped down voluntarily. It has made no move to arrest Nasheed, who is living openly in his home in Male.

Nasheed is now calling for early elections, insisting his party would emerge victorious.

While the two politicians remain at odds, there has been no sign of violence in the country, located off southern India, since Wednesday. On Friday, the first day of the country's weekend, there was little extra security to be seen in Male, though a few dozen policemen in riot gear were posted outside Nasheed's house.

In New Delhi, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was sending a special envoy to Male to assess the situation.

"We sincerely hope that the problems that have arisen there can be resolved in a peaceful way and our effort is to use our influence in that direction," Singh told reporters.

After Nasheed's resignation, thousands of his supporters swept into the streets of Male, clashing with security forces, while others attacked police stations in remote parts of this 1,200-island archipelago.

The authorities have not yet announced the grounds for Nasheed's arrest warrant, and police officials have said it is not clear if the warrant was constitutional.

Hassan, who was Nasheed's vice president, has denied claims of a plot to oust Nasheed and called for a unity coalition to be formed to help the country recover.

Nasheed's resignation marked a stunning fall for the former human rights campaigner who had been jailed for his activism under the 30-year rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed also became an environmental celebrity for urging global action against climate change, warning that rising sea levels would inundate his archipelago nation.

Over the past year, Nasheed was battered by protests over soaring prices and demands for more religiously conservative policies. Last month, Nasheed's government arrested the nation's top criminal court judge for freeing a government critic and refused to release him as protests grew.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Comments

[MikeKellsBeyond]

01:35 PM on 02/10/2012

This must have been the easiest coup in the history of the world coups

[srjmsbnd]

10:18 AM on 02/10/2012

Is Obama the the Sir Oswald Mosley of the US?

Obama's "democratic" administration use the police state to support the dictatorial overthrow legitimate Democratic government in its neo-lib neo-con strategy for world hegemony and domination.on behalf of world corporatism.

[Tsvi1]

10:58 AM on 02/10/2012

Obama had nothing to do with the overthrow of democratic governments. Nasheed is deluding himself about what went wrong. He lost control halfway through his term, back in 2010, and since then opposition parties having been hammering at him nonstop. His response? Illegal arrests! And when the judiciary turned against him, as it has done at least 4 times since 2010, he acts surprised because he is the "democratically elected leader" and how dare those judges rule against him.
I think the opposition parties have been acting petty and disgusting, but Nasheed never managed to respond to them in a way that would improve his popularity with voters. In fact, Obama has had to deal with very similar issues as Nasheed, and I think his response has been far better.

[Rosanne Smithe]

02:47 PM on 02/12/2012

Obama is the usher for islamist movements around the world. Promoting the Moslem Brotherhood across North Africa, soon to be Yemen and Syria. Not surprising that he supports Islamofascists in the Maldives over the democratically elected government. Hussein also supported the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Guatemala.