MALE, Aug 23 (AFP) - European diplomats began a fact-finding mission in the Indian Ocean resort nation of the Maldives Monday where President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has clamped a state of emergency to curb pro-democracy rallies.
The diplomats who arrived here Sunday had asked to see key dissidents locked up by Gayoom following the August 13 demonstrations here in the capital island that led to the state of emergency, diplomatic sources said.
Meanwhile, Gayoom sent a special envoy to the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, to explain the unrest in the Indian Ocean atoll which is South Asia's most expensive tourist destination.
Sri Lankan diplomats said the Colombo government had expressed "serious concern" about the crackdown and envoy Ahmed Abdullah was due to meet with Sri Lankan leaders in Colombo Monday.
The main Maldivian dissident group, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) operates from Sri Lanka.
European nations have asked Maldivian authorities to give them free access to activists, including prominent Maldivian Democratic Party members, detained following the pro-democracy demonstrations here in the Indian Ocean atoll.
Gayoom's office last week said the Male authorities had asked the European Union to dispatch a mission here, but the diplomats said they initiated the visit.
Diplomats said they had requested to visit the detention centre where seven parliamentarians and a member of the Maldivian Human Rights Commission are being held.
The government has said it arrested 185 people and has accused the country's pro-democracy movement of seeking to stage a coup against Gayoom, Asia's longest serving leader who has been at the helm since 1978.
Last week, a British member of the European Parliament, Nirj Deva, supported an appeal by Maldivian dissidents for tourists to boycott the nation of 1,192 coral islands.
"The truth is, far from being the majestic paradise promoted by scores of glossy brochures in travel agents up and down High Street across the United Kingdom, the Maldives is a land of torture, oppression and murder," Deva said.
The unrest in the capital caused no disruption to tourism, the archipelago's main foreign exchange earner, residents said. Holidaymakers are usually ferried from the airport island to resorts by boat or seaplane without going through the capital, Male.
Gayoom declared the state of emergency after demonstrators took to the streets here to demand the release of political prisoners and greater democracy.
The capital of the tourism-dependent nation is still under a night curfew.