US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO164

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000164 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA, DRL/CRA 
 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958:   DECL: 01-28-14 
TAGS: PGOV, PINS, PHUM, SOCI, PINR, MV, Maldives, Human Rights 
SUBJECT:  Maldivian Democratic Party organizers harshly 
criticize President Gayoom in meetings with emboffs 
 
Refs:  03 Colombo 2201, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Bruce Lohof, Acting Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Conoffs and Poloff recently held 
separate meetings with organizers for the Maldivian 
Democratic Party (MDP).  Both men harshly criticized 
President Gayoom's government and advocated the creation 
of a multi-party system in the Maldives (political 
parties are currently not allowed).  The MDP appears to 
be increasingly active as an organization, indicating 
that discomfort with Gayoom's long rule may be growing. 
The fact that a high-level GoRM official attended 
Conoffs' meeting with the MDP leader was also 
potentially telling.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) MEETING WITH MDP LEADER:  On January 21, Conoffs 
met Ali Didi, the recently appointed head of the 
Maldivian Bureau of Penitentiaries and Rehabilitation, 
who was on a visit to Colombo.  Accompanying Didi to the 
meeting, unexpectedly, was Mohammed Nasheed, the head of 
the MDP (see background in Para 6), who gave emboffs a 
brief readout of the party's history and platform. 
After September 11, 2001, Nasheed claimed that there had 
been a spurt in the number of Maldivian Islamic 
extremists active in the Maldives, especially in the 
more remote atolls.  Nasheed said the MDP wanted to 
counter the dangers of a possible fundamentalist 
backlash with democratic thought and representation, 
which he said was sorely lacking under "the repressive 
(President) Gayoom regime."  Nasheed also expressed 
concern over the large number of Maldivian youth who he 
said were tired of repression, but, lacking a democratic 
option, might turn to fundamentalism.  Nasheed stated 
that the MDP did not want to overthrow the Gayoom 
regime, but rather wanted to create a multi-party 
democratic system, which the Maldivian Constitution 
provides for but has not yet been realized in practice. 
 
3.  (C) Nasheed emphasized to Conoffs that he felt the 
MDP had a solid window of opportunity to influence the 
GoRM.  The government, he said, was very worried in the 
aftermath of rioting in the capital of Male' in 
September 2003 following prison violence on a nearby 
island (see Reftels).  Nasheed saw this rioting as an 
example of burgeoning unrest brought on by repression 
under Gayoom and thought the incident highlighted the 
need for democratic political participation. 
 
4.  (C) While Nasheed was discussing the MDP and making 
anti-Gayoom comments, Didi -- who is a high-level GoRM 
official personally appointed by the president -- 
listened carefully and did not object.  It was not 
clear, but it appears that Nasheed and Didi are related. 
Didi gave no indication that he was a member of the MDP, 
but he did say that he thought there needed to be 
political change in the Maldives. 
 
5.  (C) KEY ORGANIZER'S COMMENTS:  In an earlier 
meeting, poloff met with Mohammed Latheef, a high-level 
organizer for the MDP (see background para below), on 
January 8.  This meeting also took place in Colombo. 
Latheef recounted his hopes for the MDP, saying that he 
wanted the group "to bring human rights to the 
Maldives."  He went on to lambaste Maldivian President 
Gayoom, who he said had a "Baathist mentality" and "beat 
the stuffing out of his citizens."  Latheef asserted 
that there had been a groundswell of support for the MDP 
in the Maldives, particularly since the September 2003 
rioting in Male'.  He had "no doubt" there would be more 
violence in the Maldives if Gayoom 
-- who he said was "very sick" (NFI) -- did not leave 
power or failed to at the minumum increase 
democratization.  Turning to the group's political 
prospects, Latheef predicted that if the party were 
allowed to register in the Maldives, there would be a 
large number of people rushing to join.  There was "no 
way" Gayoom could stand against the MDP in free and fair 
elections, he averred. 
 
6.  (C) ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:  The Maldivian Democratic 
Party (MDP) was founded in embryonic form in 2001 when a 
group of about 40 Maldivians, including former and 
current members of the Maldivian Majlis (Parliament), 
petitioned to register the group as a political party in 
the Maldives.  The petition was rejected by the Majlis 
after the GoRM reiterated that political parties would 
not be allowed to form in the country.  Since that time, 
the two main organizers of the party, Mohammed Nasheed 
and Mohammed Latheef, were removed from their Majlis 
seats following convictions on criminal charges for 
which they spent time in internal exile and detention. 
Human rights groups have alleged that the charges were 
trumped up by Gayoom and his allies in order to punish 
Nasheed and Latheef for their political activities. 
Both men now spend most of their time in Sri Lanka, 
where they have been attempting to build the party in 
exile.  They asserted that the MDP now has about 90 
members in the Maldives and elsewhere.  Nasheed and 
Latheef have been making the rounds of embassies in 
Colombo; the UK High Commissioner recently met a MDP 
delegation, for example.  Nasheed seems to be in his 30s 
and Latheef in his early 50s. 
 
7.  (C) COMMENT:  The MDP appears to be increasingly 
active as an organization, indicating that discomfort 
with Gayoom's long rule (he recently celebrated his 25th 
year in power) may be growing.  The fact that a high- 
level GoRM official attended Conoffs' meeting with the 
MDP leader was also potentially telling.  At this point, 
the MDP's political platform seems hazy and focused 
broadly on an anti-Gayoom message.  It is not readily 
apparent what their resource base is, though the MDP now 
has a website (www.maldiviandemocraticparty.org) which 
was recently set up.  END COMMENT. 
 
8.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
LUNSTEAD