MALE: The Maldives' first democratically-elected president resigned Tuesday after a police mutiny described by his office as an attempted coup, capping three weeks of political upheaval in the holiday paradise.
"It will be better for the country in the current situation if I resign. I don't want to run the country with an iron-fist. I am resigning," President Mohamed Nasheed told a televised press conference.
Early Tuesday, rebel police officers joined anti-government protests that have rocked the capital Male for the past three weeks. They later took over state television and began broadcasting an opposition channel.
Army spokesman Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef told AFP that troops had used tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with the protestors and police who had gathered outside the military headquarters in Male.
"The sporadic clashes began after midnight and continued until 8:00am (0300 GMT)," Latheef said.
A presidential official described the unrest as "an attempted coup" by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who Nasheed turfed out of power in the Maldives first democratic presidential elections in 2008.
Army spokesman Latheef stressed there had been no military takeover and said Vice President Mohamed Waheed was expected to assume the presidency.
While insisting the army had not forced Nasheed's hand, Latheef said the military had "advised" the president to resign.
"It is not a coup. Definitely not a coup," he added.
Opposition demands for Nasheed to step down have escalated since he ordered the arrest last month of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed on charges of misconduct and favouring opposition figures.
A statement posted on the president's website said that the government and "all state institutions will work to ensure peace and stability in Male" and appealed to citizens to "remain calm".
The Maldives, a country of 1,192 Indian Ocean islands scattered across the equator, is dependent on tourism and is famous for its upmarket holiday resorts and hotels that cater for honeymooning couples and high-end travellers.
There were already signs the unrest and instability were putting off tourists, which are a vital source of revenue for a country that demanded a bail-out from the International Monetary Fund in 2009.
Konica Kapoor, a tour executive at Flexi Tours travel agency based in New Delhi, said four or five honeymooning couples who had booked trips last month had already pulled out. "They called up this morning to cancel their trip," she told AFP.
A delegation from the UN Department of Political Affairs headed by Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco had been due to arrive on Thursday in a bid to broker a resolution to the political crisis.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem had written to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Commonwealth last month asking them to "urgently dispatch" a team of jurists.
Nasheed, a father of two daughters, rose from grassroots political opposition to the autocratic regime of Gayoom.
He formed his Maldivian Democratic Party in exile but then returned home to a hero's welcome, sweeping 54 percent of the vote in the 2008 elections whose results brought people out in into the street dancing and cheering.
The media-savvy leader used his mandate to build a reputation internationally as a committed campaigner against climate change.
In 2009, he held an under-water cabinet meeting in an effort to highlight the danger of rising sea levels and also announced he wanted to buy a new homeland to relocate the entire population of his country.
Problems, including high youth unemployment, widespread illegal drug use, and an increasing rise in Islamic fundamentalism have fuelled discontent with his rule.
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