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Maldives rocked by riots
21/09/2003 18:16 - (SA)
Colombo - Five security men were arrested in the tiny Indian Ocean atoll nation of the Maldives on Sunday after the deaths of two prisoners sparked unprecedented rioting in the island capital Male, officials said.
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom vowed tough action against any member of his National Security Service (NSS) involved in the killings at Maafushi jail located on a small coral island near Male.
"All persons found to be responsible for the incident will be prosecuted under the law without leniency," the archipelago's veteran leader said on national television.
"Anyone, whether or not a member of the NSS and irrespective of rank or position, found culpable will be liable to prosecution."
He said five NSS men were suspended and later arrested following preliminary investigations while he appointed a five-member panel to carry out an independent probe.
One prisoner was killed on Friday and a second inmate died Saturday in hospital, triggering the street violence, officials said.
Gayoom had Saturday appealed for calm but hours later imposed a night curfew to stop the rampaging mobs that set fire to police stations, government buildings and burnt police vehicles and high court records.
For the first time, Maldivian police used teargas as mobs rampaged through the night.
Computers from government offices and the high court were dragged out of buildings and smashed on the narrow paved roads of Male, a 1.6-kilometre (one-mile) long island home to 80,000 people, residents said.
The smouldering remains of two police stations, the two-storied election office and the courthouse were guarded by police who stepped up patrols in armoured personnel carriers Sunday as offices opened.
Extra security was also deployed around radio and television stations and the country's main international conference hall, which was damaged by stone pelting mobs.
Schools in the capital were closed because of the overnight violence, residents said. Sunday is a working day in the nation of 250,000 Sunni Muslims.
"There are people going about their normal work today," a witness said by telephone. "But there is a lot of tension and police in armoured vehicles are patrolling the streets."
Residents said Gayoom's television appearance Sunday by way of an interview explaining the situation was also unprecedented.
"I can't remember the president doing something like this before," a resident said, adding that Gayoom blamed the violence on teenagers and ex-convicts living in the capital.
Troubles started when police told relatives Saturday that a man convicted of drug charges had died in a riot at the Maafushi prison. Family members took the body of Hassan Eevan Naseem to a cemetery where his injuries were shown to mourners.
The second victim, Abdullah Ameen, had similar injuries and his body was also taken by ambulance and driven through the streets on Saturday evening as law and order crumbled, residents said.
Until Gayoom's comments there was a virtual news blackout on the unprecedented civil unrest, but residents said it was difficult to keep information under wraps given the tiny size of the city.
Maldivian Information Minister Ibrahim Manikku told AFP that relatives had blamed police for the first prison death, but played down the rioting.
Officials said there was no interruption of flights to the Maldives, whose international airport is about 20 minutes by boat from the capital on a separate island.
The violence came as the country's elections commission announced that five people, including Gayoom, who has led the archipelago since 1978, were in the running for the presidency.
Officials, however, said the rioting was unrelated to the elections.
The last street violence in Male was in 1988, when Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries led by a disgruntled Maldivian businessman launched an unsuccessful attempt to oust Gayoom.
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