COLOMBO: Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has given up key political portfolios he has held for the past 26 years and put civilians in charge of the police, his government said on Thursday (Sept 2), in steps towards long-promised democratic change.

Gayoom, Asia's longest-serving ruler, handed the defence and finance portfolios of the Indian Ocean island cluster to cabinet ministers just a fortnight after thousands of residents protested in the streets of the capital, Male, to demand change.

However while Gayoom vowed in June to ease his stranglehold on power in the face of stiff criticism from human rights groups, political opposition parties are still effectively barred under the constitution and his critics accuse him of dragging his feet.

"With the President relinquishing direct responsibility for the portfolios of defence and finance, the President has taken another step towards modernisation," government spokesman Dr. Ahmed Shaheed said in a statement.

Gayoom has vowed to limit the term of the presidency, allow opposition parties to operate and to bolster the judiciary, but reform activists have warned more protests will follow in coming months unless he delivers.

The archipelago of 1,200 tiny islands and white sand atolls dotted across 500 miles (800 km) off the toe of India is renowned for some of the best diving in the world -- and many tourists fly in to luxury resorts and out again oblivious to the brewing discontent in the mostly Muslim nation of 300,000.

Courtesy Reuters