The government has confirmed that no specific agreement has been signed with Sri Lanka allowing Sri Lankan fishing vessels to cross Maldivian waters enroute to the Arabian Sea.
Maldivian Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said yesterday that the only development of note with Sri Lanka’s External Minister was the release of seven fishing vessels detained by the Maldives on suspicion of illegal fishing.
The confusion was sparked after an article published on August 5 in Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror referred to a statement from the country’s External Minister Neomal Perera, claiming such an agreement existed so long as vessels gave 48 hours notice to the Ministry of External Affairs in Sri Lanka or the High Commission in the Maldives.
“[Local newspaper] Haveeru went to town when Fisheries Minister [Dr Ibrahim Didi] said no such agreement had been signed with Sri Lanka,” President Mohamed Nasheed’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News today.
“The opposition seized it as an opportunity to whip up confusion and say the government had compromised the sovereignty of the Maldives – their latest favourite red herring.”
Zuhair said that on being informed by Haveeru that Sri Lankan’s External Minister had made such a statement, he had told the journalist that Sri Lankan fishing vessels – or the vessels of any nation – were already entitled to cross Maldivian waters as the Maldives was party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“The Maldives became party to it in 1982, became a signatory in 1994, and ratified it in 2000. It provides for ‘innocent passage’, and in the case of a fishing vessel requires that such gear be stowed,” Zuhair explained.
Article 17 of the convention states that “ships of all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea”, while Article 24 further states that a state “shall not hamper the innocent passage of foreign ships through the territorial sea except in accordance with this Convention.”
‘Passage’ precludes activities such as research surveys, military exercises, “serious” pollution and fishing.
“This may have been taken from an erroneous observation from the Minister during his visit,” Zuhair said, “but the Daily Mirror story is broadly correct, and I told Haveeru that this was permission [Sri Lanka] continued to have. The embassy needs a system where authorities can ID the vessel [to combat illegal fishing].”
The Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture issued a statement yesterday strongly denying that the reported maritime agreement with Sri Lanka had been signed by the government.
While discussions about allowing passage for Sri Lankan fishing vessels through Maldivian waters had taken place on numerous occasions, “the Maldives has always said that foreign vessels could cross Maldivian seas only in accordance with Maldivian law.”
The press release explains that “innocent passage” was routinely granted for foreign vessels as the Maldives is signatory to the UN Convention on Law of the Sea but foreign fishing vessels without a license to operate in Maldivian waters are required to seek the ministry’s authorisation before entering the Maldives’ economic zone.
Moreover, the Ministry of Defence and National Security must be consulted before authorising passage for such vessels and the Fisheries Act “empowers the ministry to require monitoring systems in the vessels to locate its position through satellite.”
Parliament spent several hours yesterday debating the non-existent agreement with Sri Lanka, which led to a rare split in MDP ranks after MP Mohamed Musthafa vowed to submit a binding resolution demanding the government recall the ‘decision’ as “[Sri Lanka’s] intention is to steal our fish. I cannot just stand aside and watch while they take away our fish, which is the only source of natural resource we have in abundance. It is a right that has to be preserved for future generations.”
The issue quickly fell victim to the Maldives’ highly partisan politics, after head of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)’s fishing branch, Ali Solih, denounced the supposed agreement as “an insult to Maldivian fisherman” and “a dangerous deal,” as the Maldives did not have the capacity to monitor illegal fishing.
DRP MP Ali Saleem then proposed a motion without notice yesterday demanding that parliament “look into what is hidden behind this. Did you know that even if Sri Lankan fishing vessels traveling to the Arabian sea are carrying sharks or fish catch, there is no way to know because of this agreement signed yesterday?”
MDP Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa hit out at the opposition for labelling Sri Lanka as “thieves” in the pursuit of local political gain, and claimed the allegation was “very irresponsible”.
MDP MP ‘Colonel’ Mohamed Nasheed suggested during yesterday’s impromptu debate that “it would be better for us to find out accurate information on the matter”.
The Sri Lankan High Commission had not responded to Minivan News at time of press.
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You can call us thieves, you can call us murderers, you can call us filthy dogs and so on, My dear neighbours, fact to the matters is you lot are bigger thiefs, you have become murderers too over the years and now just visit Sri lanka and have look into our cities, we are hundred times cleaner than your capital Male'.
@A Sri Lankan on Tue, I agree with you Colombo is much safer than Male’ in all respect.
Zuhair aka Juhaa or whatever you want to be called just shutup.. and stop blabbering n everythin u mind makes you think you hear.. ur blabbering is creating a foreign diplomacy blander
Being isolated, Maldives never experienced a confrontation with a neighbor and is probably why you are so naive.
On the other hand Europeans have gone through multiple wars with neighbors - some thing that has shaped their identity and world views. Hopefully Maldivians will think about being careful with neighbors. But again, kids who have never experienced fire would not know if it could burn...
Ali Saleem, you can never be a Politian, it is better you go back to your teaching. Now it seems you are a hindrance to Maldivian foreign policy.
Clearly not enough is known to both sides, if the right to passage existed, a separate agreement and the ensuring protest was moot. Except of course antagonizing a neighboring country over nothing.
Our opposition should stop criticizing anything and everything for the sake of criticizing. Remember we get more from a relationship with any country. Bashing Israel is one thing (they only offered free eye care besides they are used to it), but our politicians need to be careful with neighbors whose good will we have always depended on.
If you people think rice, potato, etc is expensive, imagine if India decided to stop exporting to this ungrateful neighbor?
Both Sri Lanka and India have offered special status to Maldivians, please reciprocate- its not hard, stop bad mouthing for political gain.
GMR= Indian take over of airpot (Israeli bombers to refuel after bombing arab countries)
IGMH= Indians killing us and performing experiments on us instead of treating us.
Safe passage for SL boats= Letting thieves in.
Dhiraagu= David Hardigham and the UK Conservative party dictating our communications
MWSC= Denmark reserving the right to poison our drinking water, maybe add pork to the water tanks?
Wait... the last three don't count because it wasn't done by the MDP "yellows"
Time to stop this madness.
@Hassan Ahmed
what foreign policy? You mean those news spins of Dr. Shaheed which you obvioulsly consider as oreign policy. why do some people think only shaheed knows malives foreign policy. why can't ali saleem have more real world insight that dr. janaazaa. you are mad
@ Srilankan - just shut ur pie hole up and get on with ur clean life in ceylon. who gives a crap about ur goddamn opinions. don't even start with which city being more cleaner.
Haha,
All my confusing-the-public plans are working. First I asked my loyal friend Haveeru to spread it and now see where it had gone.
I'll make sure that by 2013 all voting aged Maldivians are so confused and have no choice but to elect me or someone (probably Yameen GMR India also wont be a friendly land too. HAHA
So this way I can keep all you lots "jailed" here in our lovely paradise. Also no more Lavazza from the Christian Italy. You guys can walk on foot and wear only sarongs, which of course will be sold by my friend Mr.Gasim and the other friends of mine.
With no coffees and only mosques to go and pray - life will be much better. No interactions with any infidel foreigners.
But hey, wait. No need to worry. I'll bring my Egyptian Mullahs on every Ramadan where I will be showing off with my well versed tongue on Islam.
Haha,
All my confusing-the-public plans are working. First I asked my loyal friend Haveeru to spread it and now see where it had gone.
I’ll make sure that by 2013 all voting aged Maldivians are so confused and have no choice but to elect me or someone (probably Yameen). By then Lanka & India also wont be friendly lands. HAHA. Lanka will be made on not honouring international conventions. And Indian will not forget the way I will kick GMR's a## out.
So this way I can keep all you lots “jailed” here in our lovely paradise. Also no more Lavazza from the Christian Italy. You guys can walk on foot and wear only sarongs, which of course will be sold by my friend Mr.Gasim and the other friends of mine.
With no coffees and only mosques to go and pray – life will be much better. No interactions with any infidel foreigners.
But hey, wait. No need to worry. I’ll bring my Egyptian Mullahs on every Ramadan where I will be showing off with my well versed tongue on Islam.
All signatories of UNCLOS are entitled for "innocient passage" through territorial waters. It is a challenge but,Sri Lanka must be given right of innocient passage. We should not become more "american" than americans."Lanka" have assisted maldives in every calamity we face.It is one of our oldest trading partners.