Consultant Dan
08 February 2012
In defence of President Nasheed of the Maldives
Yesterday and today I am in a conference at ANU on island biodiversity conservation, getting snippets of news coming out of the Maldives, that President Mohamad Nasheed has resigned. Nasheed is a good man, a great climate campaigner and true democrat.
I am very concerned about him.
There is clearly a tense atmosphere in Male, with the police and military getting themselves involved in political affairs.
I worked with President Nasheed’s office in October 2010, when he collaborated with 350.org and Sungevity, to put PV on the presidential residence. This symbolic act was backed fully by real action; President Nasheed put the Maldives on a course to become 100% renewable in a decade.
Nasheed was the most honest, visible head of state activist in the UN climate debate. This made him very powerful enemies, including some of the biggest corporations in the world and some nasty governments.
The opposition in the Maldives has reportedly called for the military to imprison Nasheed. It is not enough for him that he has resigned from the Presidency, in an act of peace making.
Mohamad Nasheed was imprisoned and tortured by the military in the dying days of the dictatorship. The leader of the opposition party is the daughter of the dictator. I don’t know the details of the situation, but I call this a disgrace.
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