Maldives
has been the only country in South
Asia that has remained free from any intrastate
armed conflict.Maldives
is an isolated nation and is among the smallest
and poorest countries in the world. In olden times,
the islands provided the main source of cowrie shells,
then used as currency throughout Asia
and parts of the East
African coast. Moreover, historically Maldives
has had a strategic importance because of its location
on the major marine routes of the Indian Ocean.
Maldives'
nearest neighbors are Sri
Lanka and India, both of which have had cultural
and economic ties with Maldives for centuries. Although
under nominal Portuguese,
Dutch,
and British influences after the sixteenth
century, Maldivians were left to govern themselves
under a long line of sultans and occasionally sultanas.
Maldives
gained independence in 1965.
The British,
who had been Maldives'
last colonial power, continued to maintain an air
base on the island of Gan in the southernmost atoll
until 1976.
The British
departure in 1976
almost immediately triggered foreign speculation
about the future of the air base; the Soviet
Union requested use of the base, but Maldives
refused.
The
greatest challenge facing the republic in the early
1990s was the need for rapid economic development
and modernization, given the country's limited resource
base in fishing and tourism.
Concern was also evident over a projected long-term
rise in sea level, which would prove disastrous
to the low-lying coral
islands.
During
the 1970s,
the economic situation in Maldives
suffered a setback when the Sri Lankan market for
Maldives' main export of dried fish collapsed. Adding
to the problems was the British
decision in 1975 to close its airfield on Gan in
line with its new policy of abandoning defense commitments
east of the Suez Canal. A steep commercial decline
followed the evacuation of Gan in March 1976.
Whereas
the 1980
and 1983
coup attempts against Gayoom's presidency were not
considered serious, the third coup attempt in November
1988
alarmed the international community. About eighty
armed Tamil mercenaries landed on Male before dawn
aboard speedboats from a freighter. Disguised as
visitors, a similar number had already infiltrated
Male earlier. Although the mercenaries quickly gained
the nearby airport on Hulele, they failed to capture
President
Gayoom, who fled from house to house and asked
for military intervention from India, the United
States, and Britain. Indian prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi immediately dispatched 1,600 troops by
air to restore order in Male. Less than twelve hours
later, Indian paratroopers arrived on Hulele, causing
some of the mercenaries to flee toward Sri
Lanka in their freighter. Those unable to reach
the ship in time were quickly rounded up. Nineteen
people reportedly died in the fighting, and several
taken hostage also died. Three days later an Indian
frigate captured the mercenaries on their freighter
near the Sri Lankan coast. In July 1989,
a number of the mercenaries were returned to Maldives
to stand trial. Gayoom commuted the death sentences
passed against them to life imprisonment.
The
1988
coup had been headed by a once prominent Maldivian
businessperson named Abdullah Luthufi, who was operating
a farm on Sri
Lanka. Ex-president Nasir denied any involvement
in the coup. In fact, in July 1990,
President Gayoom officially pardoned Nasir in absentia
in recognition of his role in obtaining Maldives'
independence.
