FM Khaleel: Maldives could have made progress in sea dispute if not for Solih’s letter

The Maldives could have clearly made progress in the territorial dispute with Mauritius if not for the letter sent by then-Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to the then-Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth in 2022 acknowledging Mauritius’ sovereign authority over the Chagos archipelago, says Maldivian Foreign Minister Dr. Abdulla Khaleel.

The Maldives and Mauritius were logged in a territorial dispute over an area between the Maldives and Chagos Islands, as the country's exclusive economic zone overlaps with that of Chagos.

Mauritius lodged the case with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2019.

In April 2022, ITLOS concluded that the conflicting exclusive economic zones between Mauritius and Maldives would be divided between the two using the equidistance formula as argued by Maldives in the case.

Thus, Maldives gained 47,232 square kilometers from the 95,563 square kilometers of maritime territory in dispute, while Mauritius gained 45,331 square kilometers.

The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), which was the opposition at the time, believes the Maldives is entitled to the entire 95,563 square kilometers.

In August 2022, ahead of a vote on United Nations General Assembly resolution entitled ‘Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the separation of Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965’, Solih sent a letter to Jugnauth confirming that Maldives would vote ‘Yes’ on the resolution, in support of decolonization and the right to self-determination.

The contents of this letter had remained classified until it was released by Solih’s successor, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu in December 2023, fueling allegations that the former administration had “sold” Maldivian maritime territory.

Khaleel, who attended the Parliament on Wednesday morning, was questioned by Vilufushi MP Hassan Waheed regarding an update in efforts by the incumbent PNC administration to recover the lost sea territory.

Responding to this question, Khaleel said that the “secret letter” by the former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration had cost the Maldives 45,000 square kilometers of maritime territory and was disrupting fisheries in southern Maldives.

“The truth is that if this letter hadn’t gone out, if the former administration hadn’t sent out that letter, we believe that the Maldives would have very clearly made progress in sea dispute or the Chagos dispute,” he said.

Khaleel said that the Maldives has been consulting with legal experts for a review of the case.

During his 2023 presidential campaign, President Muizzu pledged to review ITLOS’ decision and do whatever he can to try to recover the lost maritime territory.

Speaking to reporters in May, President Muizzu said described the task as “hard” and “intricate.”

 He said that his administration has advise from foreign experts for the task.

“We are working on the next steps. This is already in progress,” he said.

In October 2024, Britain had shifted its policy and announced the decision to give up Chagos Islands while retaining control over Diego Garcia - a highly secretive strategic airbase in the Indian Ocean it jointly operates with the United States.

Referring to this, President Muizzu said the Maldives also needs to engage in certain discussions over this policy shift.

“But recovering the lost territory remains one of our main policies. There’s not even the slightest slack in our efforts on that front. We haven’t backed down,” he said, addressing questions over lack of progress in the case.

Following controversy over the letter, Solih had repeatedly insisted that the letter expressed Maldives’ recognition of Mauritius’ sovereign authority over Chagos archipelago, and that it bore no relation to the legal position taken by Maldives at ITLOS in the territorial dispute with Mauritius.