After a long pause, dialogue between the political parties of Maldives resumed last night, but ended with no progress.
Talks Coordinator Ahmed Mujtaba announced a break until 25 April before ending last night’s session.
Two months after no headway in the talks, Mujtaba said that he still has hope for the talks to lead to something fruitful.
Last night’s meeting was attended by Belgian Mediation Expert Eve Monet, who was sent by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Mujtaba’s request. Monet has mediation experience within the UN, has experience as an Ombudsman, has authored several books, and has worked with the Belgian King’s Council. Monet’s task is to assist Mujtaba in facilitating the talks.
“I believe the issues can be resolved if they participate in the talks. I don’t know when we will have any positive result, but I haven’t lost hope. We can’t expect to find quick solutions when we have such a large polarization,” Mujtaba said.
Instead of the usual attendees from Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (Ibu) and Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, last night’s session was attended by Hulhuhenveiru MP Reeko Moosa Manik and former Home Minister Hassan Afeef. Moosa and Afeef were replacements for Ibu and Zaki who were unable attend last night.
The meeting began at 20:30 at Velaanaage, and work to ‘order the agenda’ was disrupted after a few minutes due to difference in opinions.
“MDP wanted a date for the election, as before. Other parties say that there are revisions to be made before an election can be arranged,” Mujtaba said.
MDP made a new proposal at last night’s meeting: to include the remaining political parties in the All-Party Talks. No decision could be made on this request.
“I invited nine parties to join the talks, not more. When this decision was questioned by some, I have replied that the remaining parties did not participate in the events prior to 7 February. Neither are they part of the coalition government. So I invited only former ruling party MDP, and those parties which participated in the political activities earlier,” Mujtaba said.
MDP’s Reeko Moosa Manik said that the session was “useless” and that all political parties should be allowed to participate in these talks.
“Some parties are in support of this, but others say this should not be allowed. Our point is that there are several decisions to be made at the Parliament – so what’s the point of having Talks with parties not represented in the parliament? They reply that they are all working together. Then why doesn’t one of them sit down with one MDP member for Talks? Nobody tried to make any decisions at last night’s session,” Moosa said.
Moosa also asked if it was Indian High Commission which had appointed Mujtaba as the Coordinator, and questioned if India has any authority in this process.
Mujtaba responded, “What I had said earlier was that my name was proposed to MDP by the government via the Indian High Commission.”
Mujtaba will be on vacation till 24 April. Until then, the Mediation Expert will hold discussions with individual members.
“The Mediation Expert will hold discussions with individual members, but will not hold any All-Party-Talks session. The Talks have to be interrupted; nobody could have predicted the events of 7 February, my personal arrangements were not planned around these events. The talks will resume when I return,” Mujtaba said.
Reeko Moosa Manik said that he does not question Mujtaba’s loyalty, but “It’s troublesome that Mujtaba takes too much vacation.”
MDP’s Afeef said that All-Party-Talks is a “trick” by President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.
“These talks have no sincere purpose, they are just for show to the outside world,” Afeef said.