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Intl community intensifies efforts to resolve Maldives crisis
World community on Saturday stepped up efforts to end the political stalemate in Maldives, with India seeking a peaceful solution to the "complex" situation and the US sending a top diplomat to the tiny nation.
World community on Saturday stepped up efforts to end the political stalemate in Maldives, with India seeking a peaceful solution to the "complex" situation and the US sending a top diplomat to the tiny nation, whose new leader expressed readiness to face a probe into charges of a coup.
Four days after 44-year-old Mohammad Nasheed was "forced" to step down as President, India said it was for Maldivians to take charge of the situation.
"The situation is of course complex. We would like to see it resolved in an atmosphere of calm and peace so that it does not affect the common man in Maldives," M Ganapathi, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, told a press conference here after meeting Maldivian leaders.
He stressed, "There is no countenancing of any intervention at all. It is engagement. It is for Maldivians to take charge."
Ganapathi, who held talks with Nasheed and new President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, said the purpose of his visit was to meet the widest possible cross-section of stakeholders in Maldives.
It was for "Maldivians themselves to resolve (their internal issues) peacefully and democratically within the framework of the Constitution of Maldives," he said.
His comments came as US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake arrived here and met Maldivian leaders in a bid to defuse the political crisis in the Indian ocean nation.
Blake met Nasheed and gathered information about recent political developments in the country.
The top US official also had a meeting with 59-year-old Hassan, who was Nasheed's deputy just four days ago.
