A UN special envoy is in the Maldives for talks with the new administration.
Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco reached the capital Male today and is to hold talks with new president Mohamed Waheed, who has won crucial backing from the United States.
Meanwhile, former president Mohamed Nasheed has demanded elections after being ousted in what he called a coup.
Three weeks of protests were capped on Tuesday by a police mutiny that led to Mr Nasheed's resignation.
The UN's Fernandez-Taranco had been invited by Mr Nasheed when he was still in power to help end a standoff with opposition parties over the arrest and detention of a senior judge.
The envoy made it clear that he was not there to dictate how the political upheaval of recent days should be resolved.
"There can be no externally generated solution to something that can be solved by Maldivians themselves," Mr Fernandez-Taranco said, adding that the UN was concerned for Mr Nasheed's safety.
"I would personally urge all actors to end the resorting to violence," he told reporters at the airport.
Violence gripped the holiday paradise archipelago on Wednesday and yesterday, with demonstrators overrunning at least 18 police stations on outlying islands and torching government buildings.
The violence this week could be extremely damaging for a country which depends on tourism thanks to its crystal-clear turquoise waters, coral-fringed beaches and ultra-luxury resorts.
Former president said he was forced to quit
The legitimacy of the new administration hinges on whether Mr Nasheed is seen as having resigned of his own will or having been ousted by force.
Mr Nasheed said he was "forced" to quit when armed officers threatened violence unless he stepped down.
The former pro-democracy activist and famed climate change activist has accused Mr Waheed of being party to the conspiracy to overthrow him.
The new president has promised that his "key priorities included the restoration of public confidence in democratic institutions by upholding the rule of law and uncompromising adherence to the constitution".
Mr Nasheed, who became the first democratically elected president in the Maldives in 2008, signalled that he intended to continue fighting, telling a meeting of his senior party workers that Mr Waheed should resign.
"He must step down and then the speaker of the majlis (parliament) can hold elections within two months," he told thousands of cheering supporters who then dispersed peacefully.
A local criminal court issued a warrant for Mr Nasheed's arrest yesterday, but following external pressure from foreign diplomatic missions he has escaped detention.
Today is a public holiday in the Islamic state of 330,000 Sunni Muslims and most shops and offices remained closed with no overnight reports of fresh clashes.
