Maldives ousted former president threatens protests

The ousted leader of the Maldives, who claims he was deposed in a coup, called for fresh elections on Friday and threatened street protests over the detention of his party members. Mohamed Nasheed, who says rebel police and army officers forced him to resign Tuesday, claims up to 350 people connected to his former administration
or his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have since been detained. Several senior MDP figures were badly beaten during a demonstration Wednesday, allegedly by police, while at least two party councillors were among 75 arrested in the second-biggest city of Addu, its police chief told AFP.
Nasheed claimed police "stripped and hand-cuffed" his supporters and ransacked homes in Addu and said he would travel there in the next 24 hours unless the crackdown stopped. "We will get on the streets," he warned. The local mayor of Addu, Abdulla Sodig, earlier told AFP by telephone that he was in hiding. The new government, meanwhile, rejected Nasheed's call for fresh elections, calling the demand "ridiculous".
"Simply because an ex-president wants an election we can't have one just like that," President Mohamed Waheed's spokesman, Masood Imad, told AFP. "There is a constitutional process to follow." He said Waheed would be in office till November 2013 and thereafter the country's elections commission will call new elections.
"President Waheed is not going to hold onto power without holding elections," Imad said. "Nasheed's call for immediate elections is ridiculous." Nasheed told reporters earlier that his election demand was "non-negotiable." His threat of new protests could also spell further instability in the Indian Ocean country which depends on the hundreds of thousands of high-end travellers and honeymooners who visit its pristine islands. A UN special envoy arrived Friday and was holding talks with the new administration of Waheed, the former vice president under Nasheed. He is accused by Nasheed of conspiring in the coup plot.
Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco held an hour-long meeting with Waheed and later met with Nasheed, but declined to comment to journalists afterwards. "There can be no externally generated solution to something that can be solved by Maldivians themselves," Fernandez-Taranco said as he arrived, adding that the UN was concerned for Nasheed's safety.