Maldives has changed its long-standing stance on the southern Chagos Islands and decided to vote in favor of Mauritius in the United Nations (UN).
Previously, Maldives has not voted at the UN to implement the International Court of Justice's ruling in favor of Mauritius in the dispute between the UK and Mauritius over the Chagos Islands. However in 2019 and earlier, Maldives voted had voted in favor of UK.
The reason for the vote then was that Mauritius had filed a case against Maldives at the International Maritime Law Tribunal over the territorial boundary of the sea. The hearings of the case are now underway.
Attorney General (AG) of Maldives Ibrahim Riffath had announced at the International Tribunal that Maldives has decided to support the resolution in favor of Mauritius.
AG Riffath said President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Mauritius last August expressing his decision to vote in favor of Mauritius. The decision was taken to bring a quick resolution to the dispute over ocean territory.
He said the Prime Minister of Mauritius welcomed Maldives decision and informed him that Mauritius had decided to withdraw its claim to recover the cost of the Blenheim Reef survey.
The Attorney General said Maldives hopes to withdraw Mauritius' objection to its 2010 proposal to expand its continental shelf to more than 200 nautical miles.
The tribunal's hearings began on October 20, Thursday.
The Chagos Islands, 500 kilometers south of Maldives, was bought by Britain from Mauritius in 1965. Britain decided to lease the island to the United States to run a military base there and evacuated people from the island.
The Maldives government clarified that their stance at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on Mauritius' claims to part of Maldives economic zone has not changed.
The government has decided to recognize the Chagos Islands as part of Mauritius and vote in favor of the country at the UN. The government has been criticized for its decision to cede the disputed border area to Mauritius.
However, the AG's office said Maldives had changed its mind on the independence of Chagos and not on the border issue.
The office said Maldives changed its mind in 2019 following an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the decolonization of Chagos. It ruled that Chagos belonged to Mauritius and that Britain should hand the island over to Mauritius.
Echoing the claim, Presidential Spokesperson Miuvaan Mohamed said Maldives decision to support the ICJ ruling on Mauritius’ sovereignty over Chagos at the United Nations and the ITLOS case on Maldives territorial determination are two different cases.
The ICJ has issued an advisory opinion on Mauritius' sovereignty over the Chagos. He noted that many countries have now supported the move.
“The stance taken by the country in ITLOS on the issue of Mauritius’ claim that part of the country’s economic territory enters the territory of Chagos has not changed,” Miuvaan said.
He said Maldives had never claimed sovereignty over Chagos.
The AG's office said Maldives abstention on the decolonization of Chagos would not affect the boundary demarcation between Chagos and Maldives.
The complaint was filed with ITLOS on December 18, 2019, seeking to resolve the conflict between Mauritius and Maldives' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Maldives has said that this is an issue that can be resolved through peaceful negotiations but Mauritius has filed a complaint with ITLOS to determine that Mauritius has sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.
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