In his letter, the President expressed that transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to the Maldives would have been a preferable outcome.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has sent a letter to Mauritius following the UK’s agreement to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, located 500 kilometers south of the Maldives, to Mauritius.
In his letter, the President expressed that transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to the Maldives would have been a preferable outcome.
After half a century, the islands were ceded to Mauritius after two years of negotiations.
The decision followed a previous advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) suggesting that the islands belong to Mauritius. At the time the United Nation's General Assembly also voted implement the recommendation.
The Chagos Islands include Diego Garcia, the closest island to the Maldives, where the U.S. currently operates a long-term leased military base. The island is designated for naval ships, bombers, and long-haul aircraft, and is part of a separate atoll in the Chagos Archipelago leased to the United States for an extended period.
The decision to handover Chagos islands was made in a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministers of the UK and Mauritius.
Speaking at the official Republic Day function, President Muizzu stated that the Chagos Islands are closely tied to Maldivian history and that it would be more appropriate for the Maldives to have sovereignty over the islands rather than any other country. President Muizzu has sent a letter to the British government regarding the matter.
"The place [Chagos Islands] is more closely linked to Maldives than any other country, according to the old scriptures of our Sultans," he said.
President Muizzu also criticized the previous MDP government, alleging it ceded a significant portion of Maldivian maritime territory in violation of the Constitution. He expressed concern that Parliament had not been consulted on the matter at the time.
The 2019 ICJ opinion declared Britain's occupation of Chagos was illegal, and that Mauritius is the rightful sovereign of the land. However, as it was an advisory opinion, it was not legally binding, but still became a cause of concern as UK was said to be in violation of international law.
This decision was followed by Mauritius submitting a case against Maldives at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) over the territorial boundary of the sea. The tribunal also ruled that UK had no jurisdiction over the island and concluded the case in favour of Maldives using the equidistance formula.
ITLOS has allocated the disputed overlapping territory of 95,000 square kilometers between Maldives and Mauritius, providing each country with a 200-mile continental shelf. Maldives has been granted 47,232 square kilometers while Mauritius has been given 45,331 square kilometers.
Mauritius received 0.960 square kilometers for every square kilometer received by Maldives.
However, the opposition party of Maldives accused that the then government "sold" a portion of Maldives' land and pledged to recover it. The current administration has made it their presidential pledge and the matter had been assigned to a special committee.
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