US, Maldives conduct military exercises

(AFP): US marines have begun joint exercises with Maldivian security forces in the Indian Ocean, the US embassy said Friday, amid continued political tensions in the resort nation.

The US Marine Corps and Maldives National Defence Force started their 10-day training on Thursday, the embassy said, adding it was a bilateral, biannual exercise on the southernmost island of Gan.

“The 10-day exercise will include several days of medical training and combat lifesaving techniques, as well as convoy operations and general military skills training,” the statement said.

The exercise comes amid sustained tensions in the nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims which has been gripped by unrest since former president Mohamed Nasheed said he was forced to quit in February following what he called a military coup.

The US embassy said participating US units were primarily from the First Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, California, with support from the Maritime Sealift Command.

Gan was established as a British Royal naval facility in 1941 and transferred to the British air force in 1957. The British vacated Gan in 1976 and the Maldivian government opened an international airport there last year.

Maldivian authorities resisted pressure from superpowers to get a foothold on Gan during the height of the Cold war and had developed the tiny island as an industrial zone. It was opened to tourism development recently.

US troops have a bigger base at the British Indian Ocean Territory of Diego Garcia, 730 kilometres (456 miles) southwest of Gan, that served as an operational base for US bombers during the Gulf wars.