The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Male

A former political prisoner who unseated Asia's longest-serving leader as president of the Maldives was sworn into office Tuesday, taking charge of a nation he fears could soon disappear.

Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed, 41, took his oath of office at a ceremony televised live from a convention centre in the capital island Male where he began his pro-democracy campaign in 1990 as a journalist for an underground magazine. He was in and out of jail for a period of six years under former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had led the nation for 30 years before he allowed democratic reforms and was beaten in an October 28 run-off election. Nasheed has already hit the headlines with his idea to take out insurance in case the Indian Ocean atoll nation, a top luxury tourism getaway, is swamped by rising sea levels. A one-metre (3.3-foot) rise would almost totally submerge the country's 1,192 coral islands scattered off the southern tip of India.