Maldives investigates violence

The new government of the Maldives on Wednesday said it had appointed a commission to investigate allegations by the former president that he was pushed out of power by force.

Hussain Shihab, the Maldives envoy to Sri Lanka, told a news conference in Colombo that President Mohamed Waheed, successor to former president Mohamed Nasheed, had appointed a three-person panel to investigate the "transfer of power" that took place on February 7.

"There is no time frame for them to come up with a report, but I believe they will begin their work immediately," Shihab said, adding that former Defense Minister Ismail Shafeeu would lead the panel.

Nasheed abruptly resigned on February 7 following three weeks of opposition protests. He later said publicly that the military and police had forced him to resign at gunpoint, and that hard-line Islamic extremists had prompted the coup.

Supporters of Nasheed then took to the streets in days of protests, leading to violent clashes with police.

The investigation comes amid growing international pressure on the new government to establish its legitimacy with elections. President Waheed has agreed to a deal brokered by India to hold early elections, but no dates have been announced.

The Commonwealth carried out its own investigation last week and is to decide soon on whether to expel the Maldives from the 54-nation body.

Nasheed came to power in 2008 as the first democratically elected leader of the Maldives, a group of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean best known for their luxury tourist resorts.

acb/mz (AFP, dpa)