Any Maldivian who invites a foreign army to take over Maldives is a traitor: former president Maumoon

Former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has published a tweet today describing any Maldivian who invites a foreign army to take over Maldives as a traitor.

Any Maldivian who invites a foreign army to take over Maldives is nothing but a traitor! -M

— Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (@maumoonagayoom) September 30, 2013

In another tweet on Saturday, Maumoon stated that Maldivians are capable of solving their own political problems and that the current internal issues will be solved by Maldivians themselves.

Maumoon’s statement follows tweets by former Foreign Minister who served during both Maumoon and Nasheed's presidency, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, calling the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to suspend the Maldives from the Commonwealth, and to request India to invoke the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) on the Maldives.

R2P, or Responsibility to Protect, is a United Nations initiative established in 2005, based on the claim that sovereignty is not a right but a responsibility. It focuses on preventing and halting four crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. It states that if a state fails to protect its citizens from these crimes, and peaceful measures fail, the international community has the responsibility to intervene through coercive measures such as economic sanctions. Military intervention, it states, is considered the last resort.