Reaching out to the opposition, the Maldives government on Tuesday renewed its invitation to the Adhaalath Party, the Jumhooree Party, and the Maldivian Democratic Party to participate in an all party talk to find an amicable solution. The island nation has been facing political turmoil since February 4, when the state of emergency was declared.
Invitation for all party talk was sent as a response to a letter sent on March 11 to President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom by the three political parties and a representative of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
In a statement issued by the office of the President, the government stressed the importance of “dialogue without pre-conditions in paving the way to find mutually beneficial solutions to political disagreements amongst the stakeholders."
In response to the claim by the opposition that the government has given conflicting statements with regards to UN participation in the all-party talks and disagreement within the government regarding UN involvement, the government noted that "it was His Excellency President Yameen’s initiative to engage UN in the discussions and, neither he nor the government, has at any time objected to the UN’s involvement in facilitating all party talks."
So far, the incumbent Maldives government has claimed to have issued 12 invitations to the political parties requesting their participation in discussions. The government also highlighted that during last month, it had made attempts, through expert intermediaries, to engage in discussions with political parties to find a way forward and address current political disputes. Detailing the recent attempt, the government stated “it was with former President Mohamed Nasheed, who claimed that he also represented the political opposition leaders that the government was engaged with, through expert intermediaries," according to the statement.
Statements further stated that the "government believes that such discussions are of the utmost importance for the welfare of the people of the Maldives, and are necessary to improve the current situation in the country. However, it is with deep regret, that the government noted that its attempts to start the all party talks through Former President Nasheed was unsuccessful as the verbal confidentiality agreement was breached when the opposition, through a joint press conference, announced All-Party-Talks can only happen with multiple preconditions," government said. It added that “It is worrisome to note that political leaders are unwilling to cooperate with the government on matters of national importance, relating to the welfare of the country."
While maintaining that the government prioritises full transparency, both at home and abroad, the statement from the government added that "it continues to keep its international stakeholders, including the United Nations and the European Union, abreast of the situation, including of its efforts to reconvene all party talks".
Calling upon all political parties to set aside their own interests and to work for the benefit of all Maldivians, the government asked them to participate in the all party talks without any pre-conditions in order to find a way forward to improve the political situation in the nation.
Island nation has been in the state of emergency since February 5 and it was extended for a period of one month on February 21 based on 'threat posed to national security'. Indian government has been repeatedly making appeal to the Maldives government to bring back democracy at the earliest.