Southeast Asia feels the burn as virus keeps Chinese tourists at home

Yahoo – AFP, Aidan Jones, with Dene-Hern Chen in Pattaya, Thailand, February 16, 2020

Across Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, tourist takings have plummeted as
Chinese travellers find themselves subject to a host of travel restrictions (AFP Photo/
Mladen ANTONOV)

Elephant parks unvisited, curios at markets unsold as tuk-tuks sit idle: Southeast Asia is facing billions of dollars in losses from a collapse in Chinese tourism since the outbreak of a deadly new coronavirus.

From Luang Prabang in northern Laos to Pattaya in Thailand, Hoi An in Vietnam and the Cambodian casino town of Sihanoukville, takings have plummeted as Chinese travellers find themselves subject to a host of restrictions at home and abroad.

"We haven't had any Chinese for 10 days since they closed the road from Yunnan," says Ong Tau, 47, from behind her stall of fruit shakes in the temple-studded Laotian colonial town of Luang Prabang.

"Business is down 20-30 percent... it will get worse."

Tour guides, mall workers and restaurant staff are all feeling the burn as Chinese -- the world's biggest travellers -- stay at home in the middle of a global health crisis.

"My friend has lost four or five big tour groups... they would have paid for his low season," said Tee, a guide in Luang Prabang, giving only one name in the tightly-controlled communist country, a mass of tuk-tuks standing idle behind him.

Business is also slow at the Chang Siam Elephant Park in Pattaya, a few hours 

south of Bangkok (AFP Photo/Mladen ANTONOV)

But in one of Southeast Asia's least well-resourced countries, there may be one bright side to the sudden economic pain.

"We don't know how to protect ourselves," he added. "The government doesn't tell people anything... so maybe less Chinese is a good thing for now."

Loans and job losses

The slump is being felt sharply in Thailand, where tourism authorities say arrivals from China -- usually close to one million a month -- have plunged by 90 percent so far this February.

At the Chang Siam Elephant Park in Pattaya, a few hours south of Bangkok, owner Nantakorn Phatnamrob fears he will soon be pressed into debt to float a business which has lost nearly $65,000 since the outbreak.

"People are afraid to visit," he told AFP. "If it stays like this, I will have to get a loan from the bank."

In Cambodia's Sihanoukville, a southern beach resort known for its casinos, the 

tourist take has shrivelled (AFP Photo/TANG CHHIN Sothy)

Crocodile farms and tiger sanctuaries -- controversial tourist beacons where visitors can pet the animals -- are also deserted, leaving owners to feed expensive star attractions.

The outbreak has also spooked western tourists at the height of peak season in what has already been a tough period for Thai tourism thanks to a strong baht.

Thailand anticipates shedding five million tourists this year, taking with them "250 billion baht (over $8 billion) in revenue", according to Don Nakornthab, director of economic policy at Bank of Thailand.

"Our hopes that the economy will do better than last year are very low... it's possible it could grow below 2 percent," he added.

That will spell bad news for the untold number of Thais working in the tourism sector.

Ma Mya, 22, who sells trinkets in Pattaya, says she may soon have to return to her home in northern Thailand.

"There's no more profit -- everything has gone bad."

Vendors wait for customers at the main tourist market in Luang Prabang, northern 

Laos (AFP Photo/Aidan JONES)

Things can only get better

With so much riding on the seasonal influx, some Mekong countries are desperate not to deter those Chinese still travelling.

Thailand offers visa on arrival for Chinese tourists despite having one of the highest numbers of confirmed infections -- 34 -- outside of the mainland.

At least two of those cases were Thais who contracted the virus after driving infected Chinese passengers, raising fears that the economy was taking priority over tackling the health crisis.

For staunch Beijing ally Cambodia, where only one case of the virus has been confirmed so far despite a large Chinese presence, strongman leader Hun Sen has repeatedly played down the risk to his country.

Still, Cambodian tourism is taking a hammering.

Ticket sales at the famed Angkor temple complex in Cambodia have fallen
between 30 and 40 percent (AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA)

Ticket sales at the famed Angkor temple complex in Siem Reap have fallen between 30 and 40 percent this year, while in Sihanoukville, a southern beach resort notorious for its casinos, the tourist take has shrivelled.

"I used to make $100 a day," said Chantha Reak, a ride-hailing driver. "Now it's $10."

Businesses are praying for a bounce back if and when the virus is controlled.

With 10 million Chinese visitors each year, Thailand hopes the pain will ease in a few months.

Regular visitor Yen Ran, 25, from Chengdu, came to Pattaya despite the health warnings.

"I am a little concerned how other countries perceive us," she told AFP. "But when there's a cure, things will get better."

Saudi Arabia to enforce 'decency' amid tourism push

Yahoo – AFP, September 28, 2019

Saudi Arabia on Friday said citizens from 49 countries are eligible for online
e-visas or visas on arrival (AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Saturday said it would impose fines for violations of "public decency", including immodest clothing and public displays of affection, a day after the austere kingdom opened up to foreign tourists.

The interior ministry said it had identified 19 such "offences" but did not specify the penalties, as the ultra-conservative Islamic country begins issuing tourist visas for the first time as part of a push to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

"The new regulations require men and women to dress modestly and to refrain from public displays of affection. Women are free to choose modest clothing," a statement said.

"The regulations are meant to ensure that visitors and tourists in the kingdom are aware of the law relating to public behaviour so that they comply with it."

Saudi Arabia on Friday said citizens from 49 countries are now eligible for online e-visas or visas on arrival, including the United States, Australia and several European nations.

Kickstarting tourism is one of the centrepieces of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 reform programme to prepare the biggest Arab economy for a post-oil era.

But the conservative country, which forbids alcohol and is notorious for sex segregation, is seen as an unlikely destination for global tourists aside from Muslim pilgrims visiting holy sites in Mecca and Medina.

Men and women must avoid "tight fitting clothing" or clothes with "profane language or images", read an instruction on an English language website launched by the tourism authority.

"Women should cover shoulders and knees in public," it added.

But tourism chief Ahmed al-Khateeb said foreign women were not obligated to wear the body-shrouding abaya robe that is still mandatory public wear for Saudi women.

Prince Mohammed has sought to shake off his country's ultra-conservative image -- lifting a ban on cinemas and women drivers while allowing gender-mixed concerts and sporting extravaganzas.

The relaxed social norms in a kingdom have been welcomed by many Saudis, two-thirds of whom are under 30.

But new public decency guidelines, first approved by cabinet in April, are widely perceived to be vague and have sparked public concern that they would be open to interpretation.

They have also stoked fears of a revival of morality policing.

Saudi Arabia's religious police once elicited widespread fear, chasing men and women out of malls to pray and berating anyone seen mingling with the opposite sex.

But the bearded enforcers of public morality, whose powers have been clipped in recent years, are now largely out of sight.

Saudi Arabia is attempting a comeback on the global stage one year after journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder, but the crisis has weakened it and undermined its de facto leader's ambitious reforms, analysts say https://t.co/em7O5M25Ec pic.twitter.com/ZKdK9Nqwa6

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 29 september 2019

A personal bodyguard of Saudi Arabia's King Salman has been shot dead and seven others wounded, including security forces, during an altercation at a friend's home, authorities said https://t.co/25K67KmJ0d pic.twitter.com/SKz9nsf8dB

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 29 september 2019

Everest region bans single-use plastic

Yahoo – AFP, August 21, 2019

Single-use plastics of less than 30 microns in thickness as well as drinks in
plastic bottles are now banned on Mount Everest (AFP Photo/Phunjo LAMA)

Single-use plastics have been banned in the Everest region to reduce the vast amounts of waste left by trekkers and mountaineers, Nepali authorities said Thursday.

In addition to seeing a record number of climbers this year, a government-led cleaning initiative on Everest -- the world's highest mountain -- also collected over 10 tonnes of trash.

The new ban in Khumbu Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, home to Mount Everest and several other snow-capped mountains, covers all plastic of less than 30 microns in thickness as well as drinks in plastic bottles, and will be effective from January.

"If we start now, it will help keep our region, the Everest and the mountains clean long term," local official Ganesh Ghimire told AFP.

The region receives over 50,000 tourists every year, including climbers and trekkers.

Melting glaciers are now exposing bodies and litter that have accumulated on 

Mount Everest since the first successful summit (AFP Photo/PRAKASH MATHEMA)

The local body will work with trekking companies, airlines and the Nepal Mountaineering Association to enforce the ban, though no penalty has yet been decided for violation.

Environmentalists are also concerned that the pollution on Everest is affecting water sources down in the valley.

Six years ago, Nepal introduced a US$4,000 deposit per team of climbers on Everest that would be refunded if each climber brought down at least eight kilos (18 pounds) of waste, but only half of the climbers return with the required amount.

Melting glaciers caused by global warming are now exposing bodies and litter that have accumulated on the mountain since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first successful summit 66 years ago.

Environmentalists are concerned that pollution on Mount Everest is affecting 

water sources down in the valley (AFP Photo/PRAKASH MATHEMA)

This year's climbing season saw a record 885 people summit Everest, 644 of them from the south and 241 from the northern flank in Tibet.

This, combined with poor weather and the inexperience of some of the climbers, contributed to a deadly season in which 11 people died.

Last week a government committee recommended that climbers scale another Nepal mountain of at least 6,500 metres (21,325 feet) before being given permission to attempt Everest.

It also proposed a fee of at least $35,000 for Everest and $20,000 for other mountains over 8,000 metres. Currently, permits for Everest cost $11,000.

Tourism in trouble: Hong Kong demos hit economy

Yahoo – AFP, Yan ZHAO, Catherine LAI, August 11, 2019

Hong Kong is a popular tourist destination (AFP Photo/ANTHONY WALLACE)

Empty hotel rooms, struggling shops and even disruption at Disneyland: months of protests in Hong Kong have taken a major toll on the city's economy, with no end in sight.

City leader Carrie Lam has warned that the international financial hub is facing an economic crisis worse than either the 2003 SARS outbreak that paralysed Hong Kong or the 2008 financial crisis.

"The situation this time is more severe," she said. "In other words, the economic recovery will take a very long time."

The private sector, in particular the tourism industry, has begun counting the cost of more than two months of demonstrations that erupted in opposition to a bill allowing extraditions to China but have morphed into a broader pro-democracy movement.

The figures are stark: hotel occupancy rates are down "double-digit" percentages, as were visitor arrivals in July. Group tour bookings from the short-haul market have plunged up to 50 percent.

"In recent months, what has happened in Hong Kong has indeed put local people's livelihoods as well as the economy in a worrying, or even dangerous situation," warned Edward Yau, Hong Kong's secretary for commerce and economic development.

The financial hub's tourism industry says it feels under siege (AFP Photo/

Anthony WALLACE)

The city's tourism industry says it feels under siege.

"I think the situation is getting more and more serious," Jason Wong, chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, told AFP.

The impact is so bad that travel agents are considering putting staff on unpaid leave as they try to weather the storm, he warned.

Even Disneyland hit

Images of increasingly violent clashes between masked protesters and police firing tear gas in the city's streets have made global headlines, with protesters announcing new demonstrations throughout August as they press their demands.

A Hong Kong Tourism Board spokesperson told AFP that the number of forward bookings in August and September has "dropped significantly," suggesting the economic toll will linger throughout the summer season.

A string of travel warnings issued by countries including the United States, Australia and Japan is likely to compound the industry's woes.

The fall in arrivals has hurt Hong Kong's carrier Cathay Pacific, which was also forced to cancel flights this week during a general strike that caused chaos in the city.

Tourists flock to Hong Kong for its energy and urban character (AFP Photo/

Anthony WALLACE)

And even Disneyland Hong Kong has been hit, with CEO Bob Iger telling reporters: "We have seen an impact from the protests."

"There's definitely been disruption. That has impacted our visitation there."

The retail sector has also been hit by the drop in arriving visitors hunting for bargains, shops often forced to shutter during the sometimes daily protests.

Experts say the crisis is compounding the economic downturn Hong Kong was already experiencing as a result of being caught up in the US-China trade war.

It's a "double whammy," warned Stephen Innes, Managing Partner of Valour Markets."

"We always take a view that oh, this too will pass. But so far that view is not holding any water... and now it seems like every weekend we're dealing with further escalations," he told AFP.

Experts say Hong Kong's tourism crisis is compounding the economic downturn 

caused by the US-China trade war (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

'Nastier than expected'

The property market, which fell over 20 percent during the 2008 financial crash, remains strong.

But Innes warned that the deepening crisis could result in capital outflows.

"All the money from the mainland that has propped up Hong Kong property markets could reverse as quickly as it flowed in," he said.

"This is getting a little bit nastier than any of us had expected."

The economic picture for the city was far from pretty even before the protests began, with growth shrinking from 4.6 percent to 0.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter -- the worst quarterly performance in a decade.

Preliminary data suggests the second quarter fared no better, and while the government still hopes for 2-3 percent growth this year, predictions from major banks are more pessimistic.

A Hong Kong Tourism Board spokesperson said the number of bookings in 

August and September has 'dropped significantly' (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

Those falls reflect the effects of the US-China trade war on an economy that relies heavily on logistics processing and is vulnerable to a fall in trade.

The impact of the protests on growth will not be clear until later in the year, but Martin Rasmussen, China Economist at Capital Economics, said the crisis was likely to weigh heavily.

"In the beginning they were quite peaceful, you could say comparable to the protests back in 2014," he said, referring to pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in the city.

"Now they've become much more extreme, so we think the impact on the economy will begin to take its toll."

Sri Lanka admits 'major' lapse over deadly Islamist blasts

Yahoo – AFP, Amal JAYASINGHE, April 24, 2019

The suspected bomber walks past a door (L) with a backpack on, before entering 

St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo (AFP Photo/Handout)

Colombo (AFP) - Sri Lanka's government on Wednesday acknowledged "major" lapses over its failure to prevent the horrific Easter attacks that killed more than 350 people, despite prior intelligence warnings.

Recriminations have flown since Islamist suicide bombers blew themselves up in packed churches and luxury hotels on Sunday, in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

Overnight, security forces using newly granted powers under the country's state of emergency arrested 18 more suspects in connection with the attack, as the toll rose to 359.

Police have so far arrested 58 people, all Sri Lankans, and security remains heavy, with bomb squads carrying out several controlled explosions of suspect packages on Wednesday.

But the government faces anger over revelations that specific warnings about an attack went ignored.

Sri Lanka's police chief issued a warning on April 11 that suicide bombings against "prominent churches" by the local Islamist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) were possible, citing information from a foreign intelligence agency.

Children sit next to flowers left by mourners near St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, 

two days after a series of bomb blasts killed more than 350 people (AFP Photo/

Jewel SAMAD)

CNN reported that Indian intelligence services had passed on "unusually specific" information in the weeks before the attacks, some of it from an IS suspect in their custody.

But that information was not shared with the prime minister or other top ministers, the government says.

"It was a major lapse in the sharing of information," deputy defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene conceded at a press conference on Wednesday.

"The government has to take responsibility."

Chilling footage

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also defence and law and order minister, pledged Tuesday to make "major changes in the leadership of the security forces in the next 24 hours".

"The restructuring of the security forces and the police will be completed within a week," he said.

He also called an "all party conference" with the country's political parties for Thursday, and will meet with religious leaders too.

Chilling CCTV footage has emerged showing one of the attackers (C) calmly 

walking into the packed St Sebastian's church before detonating his bomb 

(AFP Photo/Handout)

New details emerged about some of the bombers on Wednesday, with Wijewardene saying one had studied in Britain and then did post-graduate studies in Australia before returning to Sri Lanka.

"Most of them are well-educated and come from middle, upper-middle class families, so they are financially quite independent and their families are quite stable financially, that is a worrying factor in this," the minister added.

And chilling CCTV footage emerged showing one of the attackers calmly patting a child on the head and shoulder moments before he walked into the packed St Sebastian's church and detonated his bomb.

A US FBI team is now in Sri Lanka, Wijewardene said, and Britain, Australia and the United Arab Emirates have all offered intelligence help.

Experts say the bombings bear many of the hallmarks of IS attacks, and the government has suggested local militants could not have acted alone.

But it has not yet officially confirmed any IS role in the blasts against three churches packed with Easter worshippers and three high-end hotels.

The United Nations said at least 45 children, Sri Lankans and foreigners, were 

among the dead (AFP Photo/Jewel SAMAD)

A desperate search was under way for other suspects linked to the blasts, including the head of the local Islamist group believed to have played a key role in the attacks.

The government has said the NTJ group was behind the attack, perhaps with international help, and its leader Zahran Hashim remains unaccounted for.

He appears to be among eight people seen in a video released by IS on Tuesday, leading seven others in a pledge of allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

It was not yet clear whether Hashim was among the suicide attackers or had escaped after the blasts.

Multiple attackers

Government officials have said they cannot rule out further attacks while suspects remain at large.

In all, nine people are believed to have blown themselves up in Sunday, either during attacks or when police attempted to arrest them.

Security remained tight at the churches targeted in Sri Lanka (AFP Photo/Jewel SAMAD)

Sri Lankan police sources have told AFP that two Muslim brothers, sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader, blew themselves up at the Shangri-La and the Cinnamon Grand hotels.

Their father is now one of the 58 in custody.

The Kingsbury hotel in the capital was the last one hit. A fourth planned attack on a hotel failed, authorities said. The would-be attacker was followed back to a Colombo lodge, where he blew himself up, killing two people.

Sources close to the investigation said two more people -- a man and a woman -- blew themselves up at another location as security forces launched a raid. Those blasts killed three police.

Work was continuing to identify foreign victims in the blasts.

A Danish billionaire lost three of his children in the attacks, a spokesman for his company said.

Eight Britons, 10 Indians, four Americans and nationals from Turkey, Australia, Japan and Portugal were also reported killed.

The United Nations said at least 45 children, Sri Lankans and foreigners, were among the dead.

Dutch nationals, one in Nepal, arrested for child sex abuse abroad

DutchNews, November 13, 2017    

Two Dutch nationals have been arrested in connection with a major investigation into child pornography and child abuse abroad, the public prosecution department has confirmed. 

Henk K, who is 75, was arrested in Nepal on Friday and an unnamed 46-year old man was picked up at his home in Zuid-Holland. 

In total, four homes in the Netherlands were raided in connection with the investigation and further arrests have not been ruled out, the department said in a statement. 

Child rights organisation Terres des Hommes is keeping watch on at least 350 Dutch nationals who go on holiday to have sex with children, the Telegraaf said on Monday. Their number include the two men picked up last week, the paper said.

Spokesman Gideon van Aartsen told the Telegraaf that the 350 people came into the spotlight as part of a special cyberspace project and that their online activity is now being monitored. 

‘Child sex tourists have all sorts of friendships in countries where sex tourism is a problem,’ Van Aartsen told the paper. The organisation also says it works with airlines to monitor sex tourists’ travel arrangements. 

According to the Telegraaf, most of the 128 Facebook friends belonging to Henk K, arrested in Nepal at the weekend, are Nepalese teenagers. K, who is 75, has a house in Nepal and has been visiting the country for years. 

Australian caught up in Barcelona, Paris, London attacks

Yahoo – AFP, August 18, 2017

Australian citizen Julia Monaco was in barcelona during the terror attack on
August 17, 2017, and was also in London during the London Bridge attack and
in Paris during the attack outside Notre Dame, but she says that she still plans
to travel Europe (AFP Photo/Josep LAGO)

London (AFP) - An Australian woman who fled in fear from the Barcelona attack has told how she was caught up in two other recent terror incidents in Paris and London during her European travels.

"I was in London at the time of the London Bridge attack, and we were also at Notre Dame the day the attack took place there too," Julia Monaco, a 26-year-old from Melbourne, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

She recounted how she and her friends took refuge inside a shop as crowds ran from a vehicle as it ploughed through pedestrians on the famous Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona on Thursday afternoon.

"One minute everything was fine, and the next it was absolute pandemonium. Everyone just started screaming and running, being told to get away from the windows," she said.

They lay on the ground, without knowing what was going on, before they were eventually allowed to leave and walked back to their hostel.

It was the third time Monaco, who is travelling around Europe this summer, found herself caught up in a terror attack.

She told Australian radio station 3AW that she was "locked down on the Tube" on June 3 during a vehicular and knife attack at London Bridge, which left eight people dead.

Three days later, she was in Paris when a 40-year-old Algerian doctorate student who had pledged allegiance to IS attacked a policeman with a hammer outside Notre Dame cathedral.

"I'm not coming home, these thugs are not going to stop me," Monaco told 3AW, adding: "I still want to travel the world, maybe there is something wrong with me, but I am still going."

Dutch tourist jailed in Myanmar thought Buddhist ceremony was kids’ party

DutchNews, November 4, 2016

The Dutch tourist jailed for three months in Myanmar after disrupting a religious meeting, thought he was breaking up a children’s party, his girlfriend has told the Volkskrant.

‘We thought it was a kids party in a sort of squat, not a Buddhist service,’ Nathalie Stoop told the paper. ‘The building did not look like a temple otherwise he would never have done it.’ 

Klaas Haytema, 30, was give the minimum term possible by the court last month and will remain in jail until December. He is not allowed visitors or phone calls, the paper said. 

Stoop said she had not seen him since the court case and is worried about him. The only word about his welfare they have had is from a Canadian man who spent nine days in the same jail and said Haytema is finding things difficult. 

The couple had just started on a trip around the world when Haytema was arrested.

Maldives quits Commonwealth over rights row

Yahoo – AFP, October 13, 2016

Flags of the Commonwealth nations fly outside the House of Commons in
London on March 10, 2013 (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)

Malé (Maldives) (AFP) - The Maldives angrily quit the Commonwealth on Thursday after years of wrangling over its human rights record since the toppling of its first democratically elected leader four years ago.

The troubled honeymoon island nation said it had been treated "unjustly and unfairly" by the bloc, a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, mostly former territories of the British empire.

"The decision to leave the Commonwealth was difficult, but inevitable," said a statement from the foreign ministry.

The former British protectorate has come under intense international pressure since the controversial conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism charges.

The Commonwealth put Male on notice after Nasheed stood down as president in February 2012 and said he had been forced out in a coup.

It has since criticised the government over its crackdown on dissidents and its controversial judiciary, and sent a special envoy to try to improve the archipelago's rights record.

In its statement Thursday, the Maldives, which had previously threatened to pull out of the bloc, accused the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat of interfering in its affairs.

"The Commonwealth has sought to become an active participant in the domestic political discourse in the Maldives, which is contrary to the principles of the charters of the UN and the Commonwealth," it said.

"The Commonwealth Secretariat seem to be convinced that the Maldives... would be an easy object that can be used, especially in the name of democracy promotion, to increase the organisation's own relevance and leverage in international politics."

The Commonwealth's watchdog committee of foreign ministers last month voiced "deep disappointment at the lack of progress" in Maldives.

It said it would consider suspension at its next gathering in March 2017.

The Maldives has come under intense international pressure since the

 controversial conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism 

charges (AFP Photo/Ben Stansall)

Hope for return

In a statement received by AFP, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said the organisation's members and peoples "will share my sadness and disappointment" at Maldives' decision to quit.

"The Commonwealth Charter reflects the commitment of our member states to democracy and human rights, development and growth, and diversity," she said.

"We will continue to champion these values and to support all member states, especially small and developing states, in upholding and advancing these practically for the enduring benefit of their citizens.

"Therefore, we hope that this will be a temporary separation and that Maldives will feel able to return to the Commonwealth family and all that it represents in due course."

The United States has said democracy is under threat in the strategically located archipelago, which sits on key international shipping lanes.

Washington has criticised the rush trial against Nasheed and demanded his release.

A UN panel has also ruled that Nasheed's imprisonment last year was illegal and ordered the regime of President Abdulla Yameen to pay him compensation.

The Maldives has become the latest country to leave the Commonwealth after

Gambia, which quit in October 2013 (AFP Photo/Sanka Vidanagama)

Political unrest

The country of 340,000 Sunni Muslims is famed for its coral-fringed islands but has been gripped by political unrest since the fall of Nasheed and there are regular anti-government protests.

The government faces allegations of corruption as well as cracking down on any dissent while all its opposition leaders are either in exile or in jail.

Nasheed secured political asylum in Britain this year after travelling to London for medical treatment while on prison leave from a controversial 13-year prison sentence.

He travelled to neighbouring Sri Lanka last month to meet with other exiled Maldivian dissidents in a bid to agree on a plan to "legally topple" Yameen.

While dissidents met in Sri Lanka, Maldivian police raided the offices of the Maldives Independent website in the capital Male hours after Al Jazeera aired a documentary accusing Yameen and his government of massive corruption and money laundering.

The country becomes the latest to leave the Commonwealth after Gambia, which quit in October 2013.