Yameen: Large portion of Maldives’ sea territories sold off by current administration

Opposition leader, former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom has alleged that the current administration has sold off a large portion of Maldivian sea territories.

Speaking at a rally held in Kendhikulhudhoo as part of his ongoing tour of Noonu Atoll – Yameen said that the government’s decision to change Maldives’ stance on recognizing Mauritius' sovereignty over Chagos located in the south of Maldives is unacceptable.

“What secret agreement is being talked about today. I will say that a large portion of Maldivian sea territories have been sold off. Those who took the money, must have already taken it. Many believes this now. It is not something which would be done for free,” he had said.

Speaking further in this trajectory, Yameen had described the area of sea of territories which have allegedly been sold off.

“In short terms, it is 33 times the longest road in Kendhikulhudhoo. The width, as long as it’s height,” he explained.

He added that the Maldivian people must be privy to the contents of the letter sent by the government to Mauritius’ prime minister recognizing Mauritius' sovereignty over Chagos.

Yameen went onto say that when Maldives’ EEZ was opened for foreign parties for fishing back when he was the trade minister – many political leaders involved in MDP’s formation had made allegations that Maldivian sea territories were being sold off to foreign parties.

Noting that the area was not utilized by Maldivians for fishing – Yameen stressed that MDP is currently doing many things they have objected to previously.

The territorial dispute is over an area between the Maldives and Chagos Islands - a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometers south of the Maldives archipelago.

For decades, Mauritius and the United Kingdom have been in a dispute over ownership of the Chagos, after Mauritius claimed the Chagos archipelago as Mauritian territory when Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968. Maldives became involved in the dispute as the country's exclusive economic zone overlaps with that of Chagos.

Mauritius lodged the case with the ITLOS under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on August 23, 2019.

Maldives had voted against a 2019 resolution in the UN General Assembly calling for the UK to relinquish claim over Chagos and hand the islands over to Mauritius within six months, citing a formal protest filed by Mauritius protesting against a case lodged by Maldives with the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in 2010, asking for Maldives’ continental shelf to be extended beyond 200 nautical miles.

During verbal proceedings in the case last week, Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath said Maldives had decided to vote in favor of the Chagos decolonization resolution in the UN General Assembly this year, and that the Maldivian president had informed his decision in a letter to the Mauritius prime minister.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) said that decisions regarding votes in the UN General Assembly are linked to Maldives’ foreign policy – and that such decisions lie in the purview of the president.

AGO also insists that the decision by Maldives to vote in favor of the Chagos decolonization resolution in the UN General Assembly and the ongoing dispute at the ITLOS are two separate issues and that the vote will have no effect on the dispute.

They also stressed that Maldives’ interests were properly defended in accordance with international conventions and legal principles and decisions before the ITLOS.