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Maldives Human Rights
Maldives has a fairly good human rights record.
However,
individual freedoms are restricted in areas such as speech
and
press, religion, the right of citizens to change their
government, and women's and workers' rights. Other
problems
include arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, and
lack of an
independent judiciary. Despite Gayoom's commitment to
democratization, Western observers believe that these
problems
will mar the country's human rights record for the
foreseeable
future.
The Indian Ocean island countries face a challenging
future.
Despite the end of the Cold War, the region will continue
to
maintain a degree of strategic importance for nations such
as
France, South Africa, and India. However, it is unlikely
that one
of these nations will intervene militarily in any of
region's
islands. With the possible exception of Comoros, which has
a
history of chronic instability, it also is unlikely that
any of
the islands will experience significantly internal
security
problems inthe foreseeable future. As a result of
dwindling
foreign military assistance, the security forces on each
of the
islands undoubtedly will undergo some sort of
reorganization or
downsizing in the years ahead. Consequently, by the turn
of the
century, the military capabilities of each of the Indian
Ocean
islands will be far less than they are today.
* * *
Historically, various foreign and indigenous armed
forces
have played a significant role in Indian Ocean life.
However,
available military literature focuses mainly on
Madagascar.
Useful historical works for this country include The
Rising of
the Red Shawls: A Revolt in Madagascar, 1895-1899 by
Stephen
D.K. Ellis and two works of Samuel Pasfield Oliver:
Examples
of Military Operations in Madagascar by Foreign Powers and
Native
Campaigns, 1642-1881 and French Operations in
Madagascar,
1883-1885. Two of the more important studies about
Madagascar's role in World War II are Into
Madagascar and
The King's African Rifles in Madagascar, both by
Kenneth
Cecil Gander Dower.
Several essential works for the postindependence period
include Mike Hoare's The Seychelles Affair, Anthony
Mockler's The New Mercenaries: The History of the Hired
Soldier from the Congo to the Seychelles, and Philip
M.
Allen's Security and Nationalism in the Indian Ocean:
Lessons
from the Latin Quarter Islands.
For material about the strategic importance of the
Indian
Ocean, see The Politics of Intrusion: The Super Powers
and the
Indian Ocean by Kim C. Beazley and Ian Clark. Other
items of
interest include Monoranjan Bezboruah's U.S. Strategy
in the
Indian Ocean: The International Response, V.K.
Bhasin's
Super Power Rivalry in the Indian Ocean, and The
Indian
Ocean: Its Political, Economic, and Military
Importance
edited by Alvin J. Cottrell and R.M. Burrell.
Material about the military aspects of the Indian Ocean
and
its islands exists in a variety of periodical sources,
including
the Indian Ocean Newsletter, African Defence
Journal, Africa Research Bulletin, and
Africa
Confidential. Other useful publications are New
African, Africa Events, Africa News,
Focus
on Africa, and The Journal of Modern African
Studies.
Two International Institute for Strategic Studies annuals,
The
Military Balance and Strategic Survey, are
essential
for understanding the evolution of Indian Ocean security
forces.
The same is true of three annuals: Africa Contemporary
Record, Africa South of the Sahara, and
World
Armaments and Disarmament. The last is published by
the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. (For
further
information and complete citations, see Bibliography).
Data as of August 1994
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