Will not forgo 'grain of Maldives soil', FM assures in Chagos dispute

Foreign minister Abdulla Shahid said on Tuesday that the government will continue to advocate for the largest area available to the Maldives at the ongoing Maldives-Mauritius maritime border dispute at International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). 

At a joint press conference with the Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath who led the Maldives' delegation at the ITLOS hearings late last month, Shahid said said the Maldives had entered into an agreement with Britain, which control Chagos archipelago, in 1992 to split the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and in 2010, the then foreign minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed had agreed to the demarcation with Mauritius.

Shahid was referring to the minutes of a meeting between officials of the Maldivian and British governments that were signed. 

"The public is confused because they are being misled by people who know the truth well," the foreign minister said, two weeks after the government came under fire for changing its long-standing pro-British policy to recognise the sovereignty of Mauritius over Chagos. 

Shahid said the sovereignty concerns of a country should not be misled as it will have an impact on generations to come.

"This country is dependent on tourism. People are being instigated into conflict with people living to the south of us. We can't take things to this point," he said, at the press conference held at the President's Office. 

"When you vote at the UN, you don't oppose the contents of the resolution but vote against it. We are not opposed to the issue of Chagos sovereignty. We said we are voting against Mauritius' objection to the continental shelf issue."

Riffath said that the ongoing sea demarcation case in ITLOS is being looked into with regard for the best interests of the country.

He said there is no evidence that fishing was done beyond the 4,000 square feet of sea area that is currently in conflict with Mauritius and Maldives.

"We can plead before the court only if there is evidence to  support our claims," he said. 

According to Shahid:

While President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has been urged to disclose the contents of his August letter to Mauritian premier which communicated the change in Maldives' stance over Chagos, journalists repeatedly ask to give details of the letter.

Shahid said the president's letter said that he would vote in favour of Mauritius if there was a re-vote at the UN. He also said that he will vote at the UN in a manner that protects the country's highest interests.

"The president's letter did not agree on anything regarding the EEZ," he said. 

"Had the previous governments solved the problem, we wouldn't have had to deal with it. Governments have not done anything on the matter and we have to do it now. President Solih's administration will not forgo a grain of soil from the Maldives. We are more steadfast than that. President Yameen's government amended the constitution to sell the atolls separately. President Solih's administration has changed this."

Despite being questioned several times by reporters about the government's lack of clarity in the case, Shahid and Riffath disagreed.

Riffath said they cannot disclose all the details of a case pending in the court, but added that from 2019 onwards, the government has been providing information about the case in different ways. He said the government has submitted documents of the case to the parliament and it has been requested not to disclose such matters as there is a need to maintain confidentiality till the hearings are held.