Parliament Speaker and former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has claimed Chagos Islands part of Maldivian territory, and cannot be relinquished to Mauritius.
An urgent motion was filed by Maduvvari MP Adam Shareef Umar at the parliament, urging Maldives government to retain its stance over boundary issues with Mauritius.
Nasheed spoke about the issue at the parliament sitting, where he points to his 2009 UK visit. During his visit, he had spoken about Chagos Islands issue, claiming it needs to be under Maldivian territory.
Moreover, UK's stake in the Indian Ocean had always followed through its alliance with the Maldives, a factor pointed out according to Nasheed during his visit. He had claimed the island nation will not take a decision that will cause the loss of its geographic area.
Nasheed further said that in 2010, when UK declared Chagos under its protectorate, it had not declared the boundary. The former president during the state discussions between Maldives and Mauritius said the countries agreed to work alongside UK to bring a resolve to the boundary issue, and the Chagos Islands' territory.
"We had dissented Mauritius' control over Chagos Islands even back then," Nasheed said at the parliament. He went on to add that the islands fell into Maldivian territory and the island nation was not willing to relinquish its boundary to another.
After Mauritius filed for boundary control at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), Maldives took the stance against its archipelagic peer. Maldives declared Chagos fell under UK protectorate and Mauritius had no claim over the area.
However, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared UK's colonization of Chagos Islands was against international conventions. UK had not heeded ICJ's advisory opinion to relinquish their control over the islands.
Recently, Maldives had shifted its decades old stand of siding with UK over Chagos Island control, and declared it was now supporting Mauritius over the islands' decolonization.
Meanwhile, it was learned recently that Nasheed's stance during his presidency had been different from that of his more recent statements at the parliament sitting. During his visit to Mauritius in 2011, between March 11 to 13, to partake in the commemoration of Mauritius' independence day, the leaders released a joint communique claiming their dissent on Chagos falling under UK's protectorate.
UK declared a large portion of the ocean falling into Chagos territory as part of the protectorate in 2010.
Nasheed and the then Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam had agreed to work together against UK's decision. Both countries agreed to protect their individual stakes in the exclusive economic zones and areas that fall into their respective continental shelf zones.
During the parliament sitting, Nasheed claims the countries had entered an agreement to hold talks with UK to resolve the boundary issues. However, Mauritius decided to forgo honoring the agreement after the regime change in Maldives, said Nasheed.
Nasheed had discussed with the then Mauritius PM on resolving the disputed boundary area between the countries, which he observed can be fixed through dialogue. The countries, according to the former president, agreed to form a joint commission mandated with overseeing resolve on the matter.
Tensions erupted after it was alleged that Maldives shifted its stance in favor of Mauritius at the ITLOS trials, a claim the government has denied since. Moreover, Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently confirms the government's decision to switch sides in favor of Mauritius was exclusive to Chagos Islands' decolonization - a case that is filed at International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The two issues are treated as individual, and separate cases and therefore, are tried at separate international courts. Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the country's stance over boundary issues did not waver, despite its decision to support Mauritius over ending UK's control on the Chagos Islands.
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