Abdullah Afeef - Exile

Exile

Finally, in October 1963 the United Suvadive Republic was unceremoniously dismantled and the flag was hoisted over the main Suvadive government building in Hithadoo Island. Abdullah Afeef went into exile to the Seychelles with his immediate family aboard the British warship "HMS Loch Lomond".

The blame of the Suvadive "Rebellion" (Baghaavaiy) as it is still known in Maldives, was put squarely on Afeefu's shoulders and on the British. There was not much persecution by the Malé government afterwards and the Suvadive nation was slowly forgotten. Afeef was officially declared a traitor to the Maldives, and a puppet of the British.

Still, most Southern Maldivians have a lot of respect for Afeef and claim that he was a gentleman, a man of integrity who did what he had to do in the circumstances. Despite having studied in Cairo, Egypt, Afeef had a secular and progressive outlook. Owing to his secularism and his admiration for the British, he was abjectly ridiculed and mocked as a "Kafir" or infidel by the press in Malé. But Afeef was an honest and kind person and was not like the typical corrupt, devious and self-righteous present-day politician.

Since 1963 Abdullah Afeef lived in Victoria, Mahe Island, in the Seychelles with his wife and children. From the Seychelles Afeef made repeated requests to the Maldive government to visit his home island Hitadu, to see his family. But the Maldivian authorities persistently ignored his requests. The Government in Male' didn't want to allow Abdullah Afeef to set foot in the Maldives again. Shortly before his death on 13 July 1993, when he was old and in a precarious health condition, Afeef was permitted to travel to Addu to see his relatives. However, an official pardon was not granted.