Ex-Foreign Minister: I wasn't involved in any discussions on UTF agreement

Former Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon states she was not involved in any discussions regarding the agreement between the Maldivian and Indian military to develop the Uthuru Thila Falhu (UTF) base during President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration. 

She made the remark in a video message she posted on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, in which she spoke against foreign military presence in Maldives. 

Dunya, a politician from Maldives National Party (MNP), noted that the former and current administration has been shifting blame on each other regarding the UTF agreement. She said that she was not involved in any discussions regarding the agreement during her tenure as Foreign Minister. 

Maldives and India signed the agreement to develop a Coast Guard harbor and dockyard at the UTF base back in February. 

The opposition coalition has stated that Yameen’s administration refused to sign the agreement with India because the terms of the agreement posed a threat to Maldives’ independence and sovereignty. 

The opposition said that the UTF base was a strategic location of international significance, and that additional countries had also expressed interest in developing the base. They said Yameen had therefore decided it would be in Maldives’ best interest to develop the base themselves. 

Dunya said on Tuesday that she was against any foreign military presence in Maldives. She also said that subjugation in the modern world didn’t come solely in the form of military occupation, and that reliance on a single country for everything – including loans and assistance for development projects – posed a great threat. 

She also called on the current administration to reveal the terms of the UTF agreement. 

“I call on the government to reveal the details of this. That they can put an immediate stop to this if this isn’t what the Maldivian people want. Another country cannot implement any agreement or any development project that the government does not want,” she said.