UN seeks solution in Maldives

A top United Nations official arrived in the Maldives on Friday for talks aimed at resolving a political standoff following the resignation of former President Mohamed Nasheed earlier in the week.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, who arrived in the capital, Male, early on Friday, was to meet with both Nasheed and the man who replaced him, President Mohammed Waheed Hassan. Shortly after his arrival, he told reporters at the airport that he was not there to impose a solution on the two parties.

"There can be no externally generated solution to something that can be solved by Maldivians themselves," Fernandez-Taranco said.

His arrival in the Indian Ocean archipelago came just hours after the former president called on his successor to resign.

"He must step down and then the speaker of the majlis (parliament) can hold elections within two months," Nasheed told supporters in Male. The next scheduled elections are set for September 2013.

Resignation sparks protests

Nasheed resigned on Tuesday after three weeks of protests against his administration. However, just one day later, the former president said he only stepped down after security forces had threatened him with violence if he failed to do so.

In reaction to the change in power, supporters of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party clashed with security forces in the capital and attacked police stations and government buildings on some of the Maldives' outlying islands.

The situation in the capital was reported to be calm on Friday, which is a public holiday in the Maldives.

On Thursday, a local court issued a warrant for Nasheed's arrest, but so far security forces have made no move to detain him.

The unrest in the country was sparked by the arrest of a senior judge last month. Nasheed's administration refused to release him despite three weeks of mass protests.

pfd/acb (AFP, AP, Reuters)