Terrorist Attack Rocks Maldives
By Lt. Col. Hassan Amir *
An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack targeted against the Speaker of the People’s Majlis (Parliament), former President Mohamed Nasheed was conducted on the evening of 6 May 2021 in the capital city, Male.’ The incident occurred at approximately 20:27 hrs, near his private residence as President Nasheed was about to enter his vehicle, en-route to a private event.
As President Nasheed and his Personal Security Officer (PSO) and security team walked towards the car, the IED, which had been placed under the seat of a motorcycle parked on the side of the narrow lane exploded. The homemade IED had been packed with ball bearings to amplify the damage. The device had been remote detonated and had created a loud blast and smoke. Based on the information available now, including the placement of the IED on the narrow lane and its command activation, it is highly likely that this attack was a targeted assassination attempt.
Within two to three minutes of the incident, President Nasheed was evacuated to a nearby hospital by members of his security detail. President Nasheed received serious injuries, and following several surgeries, his condition is now stable. Members of the security detail also received minor injuries and have been treated and discharged.
The incident occurred near the middle of the densely populated capital city. Within minutes, Marines from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) cordoned the area, and an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team sanitized the area and checked for further threats. Maldives Police Service (MPS) is currently conducting their forensic and criminal investigations. Foreign partners such as the Australian Federal Police and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are assisting in the investigation. Several other countries and international agencies have also offered their assistance and expertise in the investigations.
President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in a late evening address to the nation condemned the terrorist incident, which he described as an attack on both the Maldivian democracy and the economy. The economy of Maldives, which is predominantly on tourism, had taken a significant hit due to the Covid-19 lockdown and travel restrictions. In recent month, the government […]
Beirut Blast
Ziad Jalbout, LCOL, Lebanese Armed Forces,
I would like to express again and again my appreciation for the Comprehensive Crisis Management (CCM) course I had the chance to attend at DKI APCSS. It was extremely informative and I was able to develop deep knowledge in how to deal with crises. But, what I didn’t expect, directly after the course, was to face a disruptive and unexpected crisis, exactly the way the course defined it. I am talking about the Beirut Blast that happened on August 4, 2020.
During the CCM course, we talked a lot about crises in the Far East where hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados happen more frequently than in the Middle East. But I had never witnessed any similar crises in Lebanon during my life. I thought that crises involving refugees and wars were all that we may face in Lebanon. The blast of Beirut proved I was wrong. This blast was perhaps like a tsunami, an earthquake or even a hurricane by its effects.
After this blast I was able to remember every word that was taught and concept that was talked about during the course. I realized, for example, that the Lebanese authority didn’t have a pre-crisis phase that covered the possibility of what happened. Why? It’s so simple: such a crisis was never included in any crisis management plan and no one expected such a huge blast to happen. I was able to witness and still I am doing, many aspects of the crisis response phase that is still taking place now.
I was sad to realize, during my assessment of this “Crisis Update from the Region,” that many cultural properties where severely damaged in Beirut and that there is no plan on how to deal with this problem. This unfortunate reality pushed me more and more to work hard on my Fellow’s Project. This Project is about preparing a handbook on how to protect cultural properties in armed conflicts to be used by Lebanese Armed Forces. The Lebanese Army is now taking the main responsibility for the response to the crisis and such a handbook will prove very useful in such crises in the […]
Update from Sri Lanka
By Admiral Jayanath Colombage
With a total population of 22 million and a land area of 65000 square km, the island of Sri Lanka was monitoring the developing situation regarding the spread of Coronavirus, or Covid -19. The President immediately established a National Action Committee to implement health measures to prevent the spread of deadly Coronavirus in Sri Lanka. This was one of the first in our region and done on January 26, 2020 when the news of the virus spreading in Wuhan in China came to light. These preemptive measures were established well ahead of our region being impacted by the Coronavirus.
The Action Committee consisted of the Minister of Health as the chair, secretaries of health, defence and officials from Governor of Western Province, Presidential secretariat, Ministry of Health, specialist doctors such as epidemiologists, virologists, Members of Government Medical Officers Association, Scientists- microbiology and nano technology, Airport Aviation, Ports Authority, Department of Immigration and Emigration, Sri Lanka Armed Forces.
The immediate task of this Action Committee was to commence health surveillance at airports, seaports and fisheries. On January 27, 2020, the first case of the Coronavirus was detected in Sri Lanka. It was a lady from China’s city of Wuhan and hospitalized in Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH). This lady was released on February 14, 2020 after getting completely cured and sent back to China. Twelve hospitals were declared as suitable for caring of possible Coronavirus affected cases across the country. The developing situation was closely monitored and analysed in the world whilst maintaining medical surveillance at our airports, seaports and fisheries ports. Many scientists, microbiologists in R&D, worked to manufacture PPEs in Sri Lanka and to develop ventilator machines to provide oxygen. Currently, the number of positive Corona cases has risen to 53. There are a number of Quarantine centres, which accommodate about 2000 people who have returned from high-risk areas such as Italy, South Korea. The situation is being monitored and appropriate steps taken to prevent further spread of the virus.
The views expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of DKI APCSS, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
May 2020
Solomon Islands Coast Watchers 20/20 Program
By Joseph Manelugu
The Royal Solomon Island Police Force is working in partnership with other law enforcement agencies and stakeholders to fight against the current spread of COVID-19. We are concentrating on blocking our western border with Bougainville, which is the eastern-most island chain of Papua New Guinea. As an Assistant Commissioner for Provincial policing, I have been appointed as the commander for border operations.
With assistance from a New Zealand advisor, we initiated a program called COAST WATCHERS 20/20. The purpose of this program is to work together with stakeholders and communities to watch our coasts for incoming foreign vessels, boats, yachts, and ships and to communicate to the nearest police stations or other law enforcement agencies so that they can take appropriate action.
Dealing with communities can sometimes be difficult, especially getting them to participate fully on certain unfamiliar requirements. We are thus communicating with all communities and islands in the country and are informing them of the program and the reasons why they should provide their support. We are asking citizens to work as volunteer coast watchers, looking out for foreign boats, keeping a close eye on all vessels coming into the country and reporting back to law enforcement agencies.
The Coast Watchers program is not entirely new to Solomon Islands and has a long history here. During the second World War, Americans and local coast-watcher Solomon Islanders communicated well with each other as they reported sightings of enemies approaching certain locations in the country.
Today, we are combating COVID-19 by preventing its entry to Solomon Island through our borders. So far, we have been successful and Solomon Island is still free from COVID-19.
Mahalo
Joseph Manelugu
Assistant Police Commissioner Provincial
Arrival of COVID-19 in Myanmar
By: Professor Chaw Chaw Sein, Ph.D. (CSRT 18-1)
During my life time, I have personally experienced several massive political crises, such as 1988 students’ uprising which began at the University of Yangon where I now teach, the “Saffron Revolution” initiated by Buddhist monks for democratization in 2007, and of course, the on-going ethnic armed conflicts. I had lived through crises created by mother-nature such as Cyclone Nargis of 2008 and the major floods/landslides of 2015. During the outbreaks of SARS and H1N1, Myanmar was not spared and today it has become the latest casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of our history, Myanmar people are used to coping and living with both natural and man-made crises. I must say we are incredibly resilient and now will be tested again with COVID-19.
For a while, we optimistically thought Myanmar might be spared from this disease. As the world turned red with the virus infection, the people and government of Myanmar went about their normal business until March 23 at 23:45 when the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports announced that they now had two patients testing positive with COVID-19. The authority came to discover that these two patients were overseas travelers who had been mingling within the community for some time. We woke up to the reality of the new world on that date. Even up to the March 23, our university went about administering exams for the first semester (which was scheduled for March 18-23) of our academic year. All of that changed on the 23rd. To borrow a famous quote from the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 23rd of March 2020 will be the “day of infamy” for Myanmar as this horrendous pandemic reached the Myanmar shores.
Impact of COVID-19 Arrival
Immediately on March 24, all exams were suspended and postponed. Ministry of Education shut down all universities in Myanmar with no exact date for re-opening since they had no idea of how long it would take to combat the virus. Since the discovery of the first two patients in Myanmar, the country has been dealing with the side-effects in addition to the health emergency as the government […]
Maldives Battles COVID-19
By: Hassan Amir (CA 17-1 SSD in the Indian Ocean WS)
Maldives reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on Mar. 7, when foreign tourists who had been vacationing in Maldives became symptomatic. Since the initial case was reported, we have had 19 confirmed cases by Apr. 5. This includes three locals who had been under quarantine upon returning from United Kingdom. There have not been any COVID-19 related deaths, and 13 patients have fully recovered.
With the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, Maldives started taking decisive steps to prepare for the public health crisis. The Ministry of Health convened the multi-agency Health Emergency Coordinating Committee (HECC) and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) comprised of health professionals to advise the government on necessary preventive and mitigation measures. In early March, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) took over coordinating the whole of government effort. A COVID-19 National Emergency Centre (NEOC) was established, and national agencies engaged in public health, logistical support, tourism, law enforcement and local governance are fully engaged in executing inter-agency plans.
Despite the economic impact of imposing travel restrictions, Maldives banned all arrivals from China starting Feb. 4. Since then, there has been travel restrictions imposed on arrivals from other countries as the situation unfolded in Europe and elsewhere. Starting from Mar. 27, issue of on-arrival visa was suspended. At present, only essential flights are allowed to land, and locals returning to Maldives are placed under quarantine.
The national effort undertaken by the NEOC against the spread of COVID-19 at present can be broadly divided into four major lines of effort (LoE). They are (1) Information Management, Public Messaging and Risk Communication, (2) Health Response, (3) Community Support Operations and (4) Law Enforcement Operations. Public information on infection prevention and control, hygiene and procedures for reporting of cases and preventive and control measures are centrally coordinated through the NEOC, and disseminated through the government COVID-19 spokesperson, and on social media and other public messaging platforms.
Health response broadly covers the actions of the Rapid Response Teams dispatched to collect samples or isolate symptomatic cases once a call is received at the central COVID-19 call center. Testing […]
