UN special envoy meets with new Maldives government

MALE, Maldives - A UN special envoy arrived on Friday for talks with the new administration in the Maldives, as former president Mohamed Nasheed demanded fresh elections after being ousted in what he called a coup d'etat.

Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco reached the nation's capital of Male on Friday and held an hour-long meeting with new President Mohamed Waheed, who has won crucial backing from the United States.

Three weeks of opposition-led protests were capped on Tuesday by a police mutiny that led to Nasheed's dramatic resignation, which he said was "forced" when armed rebel officers threatened him with violence unless he stepped down.

Waheed said in a statement that his "key priorities included the restoration of public confidence in democratic institutions by upholding the rule of law and uncompromising adherence to the constitution".

The legitimacy of the new administration hinges on whether Nasheed is seen as having resigned of his own will or having been ousted by force.

New video footage distributed by his office apparently shows him pleading with security forces in vain to help quell a police mutiny and violent demonstrations on the morning of his resignation.

There has been growing evidence of police brutality since then, particularly against members of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), amid reports of a crackdown on islands outside the capital.

In Addu City, police said they had arrested 75 people, including two local MDP councilors. The local mayor told AFP by telephone that he was in hiding.

Violence flared on the island on Wednesday during a pro-Nasheed demonstration in which three police offices, 35 police vehicles and a prosecutor's office were torched, superintendent Yoonus Sobah said.

A local criminal court issued a warrant for Nasheed's arrest on Thursday, but he escaped detention after external pressure from foreign diplomatic missions.

The UN's Fernandez-Taranco had been invited by Nasheed when he was still in power to help end a standoff with opposition parties over the arrest and detention of a senior judge.

The envoy made it clear that he was not there to dictate how the political upheaval should be resolved.

"There can be no externally generated solution to something that can be solved by Maldivians themselves," Fernandez-Taranco said as he arrived, adding that the UN was concerned for Nasheed's safety.

Agence France-Presse