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MDP Chairman Nasheed returning home on 30th April

24 April 2005

Chairman of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) is to return to Maldives on 30th April 2005 after more than 18 months of exile. Mr. Nasheed has been a solid opponent of Gayyoom and his dictatorship for the past 15 years, ever since he went back to Maldives after his studies in UK.

Many of the youth in Maldives are looking forward to his return for there has been a lack of a potential leader to sustain the momentum of the reform movement in Maldives whilst the elderly are very concerned for his safety and welfare. They believe that Gayyoom will just arrest and throw him in jail for life.

"I think Anni has a lot guts to be returning to Maldives at a critical time like this. He has been in jail several times and knows what solitary confinement is like. He has been tortured by Gayyoom for doing nothng apart from criticising this dictatorship. I salute him (Anni) for this move," said a Hassan, a young pro-democracy activist.

In an exculsive interview to Dhivehi Observer, Mr. Nasheed said "the main purpose of my return is to setup party cells and offices around the country and organise the party to challenges ahead, now that there are signs of possible implementations of a party system in the Maldives politics,".

Mr. Nasheed admits that this is a huge step "there are risks involved, I don't have any guarantee whether Gayyoom will apprehend me or not but I have no other choice. As Chairman of the party (MDP), it is my duty to work towards achieving it's goal is a democratic and civilised manner," he said.

Anni will be arriving to Male' on the 30th April by Emirates from Colombo at 10:40am. Scores of MDP members and supporters of democracy movement in the Maldives are expected to greet him at the airport.

Replying to the question of whether Mr. Nasheed believes that Gayyoom will or is capable of reforming the Maldives politics, Mr. Nasheed said "as far as I am concerned, Gayyoom is not a part of this debate."

Mr. Nasheed is confident that democratic change will come to Maldives in the very near future. He believes that apart from a handful of corrupt officials and family members of Gayyoom, everyone else in Maldives want these changes because no one wants to live in such a hostile environment. Mr. Nasheed does not believe that the Maldives police and army will defend Gayyoom's dictatorship unconditionally. "We have friends and associates in police and army too and when the time comes, they will defend the intergrity and the fate of our nation. I have no doubt about that," he said with a glare of hope in his eyes.

When asked if Gayyoom was capable of ordering to shoot at civilians if there was a demonstration against him, Mr. Nasheed said "I have no doubt that he (Gayyoom) with use all powers he has to save his rule so we must be prepared for all eventualities."

Mr. Nasheed return has been delayed by more than a month because he was unable to get a Maldivian Passport from Colombo and had to return to London to obtain his old passport which was held at the British Home Office as he has political assylum in the UK.

Despite the concerns of key elderly reformists in the country, it is unlikely that Gayyoom will apprehend and lock up Mr. Nasheed for the simple reason that he has a lot of support from international bodies and governments such as UK and other EU governments.