Since
independence Maldives
has faced no external threats but has experienced
three major internal threats.
In
May 1980, President
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom disclosed details of an abortive
coup against his regime. According to Gayoom, former
president Ibrahim
Nasir, supported by nine British ex-Special Air
Services mercenaries, masterminded the plot. Nasir
denied this allegation but in April 1981,
the authorities sentenced Ahmed Naseem, former deputy
minister of fisheries and brother-in-law of Nasir,
to life imprisonment for plotting to overthrow Gayoom.
Attempts to extradite Nasir from Singapore failed.
In July 1990,
Gayoom pardoned Nasir in absentia, ostensibly because
of his role in the independence struggle. In 1983
Gayoom encountered another unsuccessful coup attempt.
The
most serious challenge to Gayoom occurred in November
1988, when former Maldivian businessmen Abdullah Luthufi
led a seaborne mercenary force of about 150 Sri Lankan
Tamil separatists who invaded Maldives
and attempted to seize key government installations.
Gayoom asked the Indian government for assistance
and Bombay deployed a 1,600-member contingent to Maldives.
This unit quickly suppressed the coup attempt and
restored order. In September 1989,
Gayoom commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences
imposed on twelve Sri Lankans and four Maldivians
who participated in the coup attempt. A few weeks
later, India withdrew its remaining 160 troops from
the Maldives.
By the early 1990s,
internal security had improved, largely because Gayoom
had embarked on a democratization program.
Armed
forces in national life |
For
hundreds of years, Maldives
had not experienced security problems and therefore
had no need for a military establishment. However,
in 1956
Maldives and Britain agreed to the establishment of
a Royal Air Force base on Gan, an island on Addu atoll.
As part of a 1965 accord, the British gained access
to Gan until 1986; however, they pulled out in 1976
because of budgetary retrenchment.
In 1977
Maldives
rejected a request by the former Soviet
Union to lease the Gan facilities. By the early
1980s, Maldives maintained only one security unit,
the
National Security Service (NSS). This organization,
which numbers fewer than 1,000 personnel, performs
army, police, and maritime duties. Its mission includes
preserving internal security and patrolling the country's
territorial waters for illegal fishermen and smugglers.
After the 1988 coup attempt, the government expanded
the NSS to about 1,500 personnel; by 1990, the NSS
had grown to approximately 1,800 personnel.
