Male:

The Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives will ban Israelis from the luxury tourist hot spot, the office of the president said Sunday, announcing a national rally in “solidarity with Palestine”.

The Maldives, a tiny Islamic republic of more than 1,000 strategically located coral islets, is known for its secluded sandy white beaches, shallow turquoise lagoons and Robinson Crusoe-style getaways. 

President Mohamed Muizzu has “resolved to impose a ban on Israeli passports,” a spokesman for his office said in a statement, without giving details of when the new law would take effect.

Muizzu also announced a national fundraising campaign called “Maldivians in Solidarity with Palestine”.

The Maldives had lifted a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and moved to restore relations in 2010.

However, normalisation attempts were scuttled following the toppling of president Mohamed Nasheed in February 2012.

Opposition parties and government allies in the Maldives have been putting pressure on Muizzu to ban Israelis, as a sign of protest against the Gaza war.

Official data showed the number of Israelis visiting the Maldives dropped to 528 in the first four months of this year, down 88 percent compared to the corresponding period last year.

In response to the ban, an Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman urged citizens to avoid travel to the Maldives.

“For Israeli citizens staying in the country, it is recommended to consider leaving, since if they fall into distress for any reason, it will be difficult for us to help,” the spokesman added.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Hamas also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,439 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The IMF urged the Maldives to urgently raise revenue, cut spending and reduce external borrowing to avoid a major economic crisis. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The International Monetary Fund warned the Maldives against looming “debt distress” on Monday, as the small but strategically placed luxury tourist destination looks set to borrow more from main creditor China.

Since winning office last year, President Mohamed Muizzu has reoriented the atoll nation — known for its upmarket beach resorts and celebrity vacationers — away from traditional benefactor India and towards Beijing.

Last month his party won parliamentary elections in a landslide after promising to build thousands of apartments, reclaim more land for urban development and upgrade airports, all with Chinese funding.

Without naming the archipelago’s main lender, the IMF said the Maldives remained “at high risk of external and overall debt distress” without “significant policy changes”.

“Uncertainty surrounding the outlook is high and risks are tilted to the downside, including from delayed fiscal consolidation and weaker growth in key sources markets for tourism,” the IMF said in a statement.

It urged the Maldives to urgently raise revenue, cut spending and reduce external borrowing to avoid a major economic crisis.

The Maldives is a small nation of 1,192 tiny coral islets scattered 800 km across the equator, but it strategically straddles key east-west international shipping routes.

Tourism is a crucial source of foreign exchange for the country, home to white sandy beaches and secluded resorts offering Robinson Crusoe-style holidays.

China has pledged more funding since last year’s victory by Mr. Muizzu, who thanked the country for its “selfless assistance” for development funds on a state visit to Beijing shortly after he took power.

Official data showed the Maldives’ foreign debt reaching $4.038 billion last year, about 118% of gross domestic product and up nearly $250 million from 2022.

As of June 2023, the Export-Import Bank of China owned 25.2 percent of the Maldives’ external debt and was the country’s biggest single lender, Maldives finance ministry figures showed.

Debt-burdened neighbour Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt in 2022 after a foreign exchange crisis that brought months of food and fuel shortages.

More than 50% of Sri Lanka’s bilateral debt is owed to China and the island nation is still struggling to restructure its borrowings with IMF assistance.

Unable to service a huge Chinese loan to build a port in the south, Sri Lanka allowed a Chinese state company to take over the facility on a 99-year lease in 2017.

The deal raised fears about Beijing’s use of “debt traps” in exerting its influence abroad, including in the Indian Ocean.

Male:

The Maldives military still does not have pilots capable of operating three aircraft donated by India, Defence Minister Ghassan Maumoon has acknowledged, days after 76 Indian defence personnel left the island nation at the instance of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu.

Ghassan Maumoon made the remarks at a press conference held at the President’s Office here on Saturday to brief the media about the withdrawal of Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives to operate two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft and their replacement with civilians from India.

Responding to a question from a journalist, Ghassan Maumoon said there were no Maldivian soldiers with the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) who can operate the three aircraft donated by the Indian military despite some soldiers who began training to fly them under agreements formed by previous governments.

“As it was a training that required passing various stages, our soldiers had not reached completion due to various reasons. Therefore, there aren’t any people in our force at the moment who are licensed or fully operational to fly the two helicopters and Dornier aircraft,” Ghassan Maumoon was quoted as saying by Adhadhu.com news portal.

The relations between the two countries came under severe strain after Muizzu, a pro-China leader, insisted on the withdrawal of all Indian military personnel operating the three aviation platforms in the island nation by May 10. India has already withdrawn 76 military personnel.

However, the Maldives government has no intention of removing the doctors from India at Senahiya military hospital, a Maldivian media report said.

Contrary to Ghassan Maumoon ‘s remarks, when the current administration’s senior officials were in the opposition during the past five years, they criticised the previous government and claimed that there were capable pilots in the MNDF, the Adhadhu.com report noted.

Training Maldivians was the main reason for the arrival of Indian soldiers with the helicopters donated during former presidents Mohamed Nasheed and Abdulla Yameen’s governments and the Dornier aircraft brought during former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s government, it said.

Despite the failure to complete the training to date, Foreign Minister Zameer said Saturday that the agreement to replace the Indian soldiers with civilians also included provisions for training local pilots.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Emphasising that “peace and security” of the Indian Ocean is important for countries in the neighbourhood including India, Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer on Thursday said that his government has “not permitted the Chinese vessel” for research purposes in the Maldivian waters.

The statement by the Maldivian Foreign Minister came in the wake of the Chinese marine research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 returning to Maldivian waters, marking its second visit to the archipelago nation within two months.

“The peace and security of the Indian Ocean is important for both India and Maldives and Sri Lanka and the rest of the countries that we have in the neighbourhood. So, we will continue to work together as I said earlier,” he said.

Elaborating on the port call for Chinese vessels, he said, “Our government issued personal rotation and friendly portable permits, and diplomatic clearances came from the Chinese side, which is very common in Maldives.”

“So that’s how it has happened we as a peaceful country, welcome those vessels which come for peaceful purposes. But they didn’t come for research in the Maldivian waters, we have not permitted the Chinese vessel for research in the Maldivian waters,” Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer said while maintaining that research vessels are not welcome in the Maldivian waters.

On April 27, Chinese marine research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 returned to Maldivian waters, marking its second visit to the archipelago nation within two months after Pro-China Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) won the Parliamentary elections, as reported by Adhadhu news on Friday.

It is pertinent to note that Defence Minister Ghassan Maumoon last month told the Maldivian Parliament that the Chinese vessel would not conduct any research despite sailing inside and near Maldivian waters. 

“There was no permission given to conduct any research in the Maldives territory. After docking in Male’ and buying food, they did a crew change. People who came on an airplane went board the boat and those on the boat left via the airplane. That was the permission that was given,” Adhadhu quoted Mr Maumoon as saying on March 25.

Relations between India and the Maldives have been strained since President Muizzu took office in November, shifting the government’s focus towards China.

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu arrives to cast his ballot for the parliamentary election at a polling station in Mali, Maldives on April 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

After his party won a decisive majority in Sunday’s general elections, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu has both executive powers and parliamentary backing to shape the island nation’s policies for the next five years.

Provisional results showed that the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) secured 71 out of the 93 seats in parliament or People’s Majlis, as it is known in the island nation. The party was preparing to hold a huge celebration titled “Welcome — to the People’s Nation’s Majlis”, in capital Male on Monday night.

The Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which had put up a similar, impressive show in 2019, winning 65 out of 87 seats then, faced a serious setback in this election, losing in most constituencies. The party secured only a dozen seats. Significantly, candidates affiliated to the two new formations of former Presidents Abdulla Yameen and Mohamed Nasheed who split, respectively, from Mr. Muizzu and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, failed to win a single seat.

“I am still in some kind of shock, and trying to make sense of the results,” said Ibrahim Ismail, a former MP from the MDP, an academic and a prominent voice in the country’s pro-democracy reform movement since the early 2000s. “This sort of three-fourths majority allows them to even re-write the Constitution. And it’s always a red flag when one party is able to do that in a democracy,” he told The Hindu from Male. He said the new composition also gave rise to fears over the possible undermining of the rule of law.

It is not that the MDP did not wield similar control over the last parliament, but some like Mr. Ismail see the current situation as being “very different”. “How a party [PNC] that is not known to espouse democratic values might deal with such absolute power is a major concern. The MDP for all its internal weaknesses is a party rooted in democracy and human rights. Also, it offers more space for diverse voices and dissent within,” Mr. Ismail contended.

While citing the MDP’s internal fissures, especially around the split of President Nasheed, as one of the chief reasons for the electorate’s disillusionment with the party, the former MP said Mr. Solih “went overboard” with his ‘India First’ policy, much like his predecessor Mr. Yameen, who “did the same with China”.

All the same Mr. Muizzu’s detractors worry that his political camp’s ultra-nationalist rhetoric may not bode well for balanced international relations in the long run. “It is not ideal for small countries to tilt too much towards one power or the other,” Mr. Ismail observed.

Mr. Muizzu’s foreign policy priorities are no secret. After making “India out” his poll plank in last year’s Presidential race, he gave it policy direction, eventually getting New Delhi to agree to replace its military personnel with civilians. Around the same time, he pledged to elevate strategic ties with China.

According to Ahmed Mohamed, a former diplomat who served as the Maldives’s Ambassador to India during President Yameen’s term, the results of the general election in the Maldives only point to a continuing trend observed in the past two elections. “There is a widespread belief among the public that in order to sustain progress, development, and prosperity, the government must secure an absolute majority in the Majlis,” he told The Hindu. “Given this outcome, I do not anticipate any changes to the foreign policy of the Maldives,” he added.

Male:

Ahead of the parliamentary polls in the Maldives, the opposition parties have demanded a probe and impeachment of President Mohamed Muizzu following the leaked report of his alleged corruption from 2018, a charge dismissed by him.

Elections to the Majlis are to be held on Sunday and the atmosphere has been vitiated by the trading of charges between the main opposition the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC).

Local media reports have highlighted that the political storm started on Monday with an anonymous handle ‘Hassan Kurusee’ posting on social media X leaked intelligence reports, including documents prepared by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Maldives Monetary Authority and the Maldives Police Service that allegedly linked President Muizzu to corruption.

“These reports, dated circa 2018, claim irregularities in money transfers to President Muizzu’s personal bank account, highlighting 10 critical red flag indicators of financial misconduct. These indicators suggest involvement with politically exposed persons, embezzlement, structured transactions, and the use of corporate entities to hide fund origins,” news portal Maldives Republic (mvrepublic.com) reported.

The allegations soon created a political storm with several reactions pouring in on various social media channels. News portals and newspapers, however, tread with caution. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and People’s National Front (PNF) demanded an investigation into the matter.

Former Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed urged Muizzu’s impeachment following the leaked intelligence reports. Taking to his social media handle X, Jameel reposted these documents, emphasising the need for accountability at all levels of governance.

Apart from demanding Muizzu’s impeachment, Jameel, a senior member of the Progressive Party of Maldives, “also accused President Muizzu of extensive corruption in his flagship Ras Male’ development project and alleged excessive spending on public relations. Jameel has called on President Muizzu to cooperate with independent investigations into these allegations,” mvrepublic.com said.

The news portal also claimed that this was the first time an FIU report was leaked and said, there has been no official confirmation or response from government bodies regarding the legitimacy of the reports or the allegations.

Adhadhu.com reported that President Muizzu responded late on Tuesday night to corruption allegations declaring that the opposition “cannot show any wrongdoing on his part regardless of how far attempts to implicate him are taken” and also accused the opposition of leaking the reports out of desperation.

“The same allegations had been made during his campaigns for mayor and President,” he said adding, the response would also be the same as before.

“While you attempt to pin something on me like this, you couldn’t do it before and you can’t do it now. There’s nothing you can show against me no matter how far you take this,” Adhadhu.com said, quoting the President.

Atoll Times gave a detailed account of what President Muizzu said in his defence, including how he would “never compromise the rights of the people and that no matter how many such allegations are made, nobody will be able to show anything done in such a manner.” “The last five years opposition was in government, if there was anything done wrong, it would have come to light,” Muizzu said.

“The President’s remarks came after the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and People’s National Front (PNF) called on the relevant authorities to investigate the serious allegations against the President. But no government investigative agency has yet to comment on the issue,” Adhadhu.com reported.

A total of 368 candidates are contesting for 93 seats in this year’s parliamentary elections on April 21, according to media reports. The outcome of the elections will determine whether the opposition parties can act against President Muizzu, who assumed charge in November last year. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China January 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A Chinese military delegation recently visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal to discuss further cooperation in defence issues, Beijing said on Wednesday.

Beijing is seeking to build closer ties in South Asia in a push to counter its strategic rival India for influence.

Last week, the Maldives said it had signed a “military assistance” deal with China after ordering Indian troops deployed in the small but strategically-placed archipelago to leave.

And Beijing confirmed on Wednesday that a delegation had visited the country and met with pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu during a trip that also took them to Sri Lanka and Nepal from March 4 to 13.

In all three countries, “they exchanged views on military relations and regional security issues of common concern”, the Chinese military said in a statement on its official WeChat account.

The delegation of officials from the military’s international military cooperation department focused on “in-depth consultations on promoting bilateral defence cooperation”.

“A series of consensus was reached to further enriched defence cooperation between the PLA and the relevant countries,” it added, referring to the Chinese military by its official acronym.

India is suspicious of China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean and its influence in the Maldives, a chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands stretching around 800 km across the equator, as well as in neighbouring Sri Lanka.

Both South Asian island nations are strategically placed halfway along key east-west international shipping routes.

Beijing also enjoys close ties with Nepal, led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, an ex-Maoist guerrilla known by his nom de guerre Prachanda.

Beijing:

China said on Tuesday that it supports the Maldives in safeguarding its sovereignty, as the first batch of Indian military personnel operating a helicopter left the island nation and was replaced by a civilian crew.

Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives manning the operations of a helicopter left the country after handing over the operations of the chopper to an Indian civilian crew, the Maldivian media reported on Monday.

Asked for his comments on the first batch of the Indian military personnel’s withdrawal from the Maldives, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he was not aware of the specifics.

“China supports the Maldives in safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and carrying out friendly cooperation with all sides on the basis of independence,” he said.

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, seen as a pro-China leader, has affirmed that no Indian military personnel, not even those in civilian clothing, would be present inside his country after May 10.

Muizzu asked India to withdraw nearly 90 military personnel from the Maldives and India has agreed to replace the military personnel with civilians and to continue the operations of two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft provided to the country for providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services.

Muizzu’s government also allowed a sophisticated Chinese ‘research ship’ to dock at Male. Last week, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) signed a deal with China’s military. Under this deal, China will supply ‘non-lethal’ weapons to the Maldives free of cost.

Muizzu visited China in January during which the two countries announced the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership besides signing 20 agreements to assist Maldives infrastructure.

China also announced a USD 130 million grant besides promising to send more Chinese tourists to the tourism-dependent Maldives.

After Muizzu’s visit, China is sending more of its tourists to Maldives on his request in an apparent attempt to reduce the dependence on Indian tourists who have recently topped the list of international tourists to the tourism-dependent country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Policemen patrol near the Parliament building in Male, Maldives. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

 The Maldives’ Parliamentary elections has been rescheduled for April 21, the Election Commission has said, after President Mohamed Muizzu ratified a Bill that allowed for the postponement of the polls.

The elections were originally scheduled to be held on March 17 this year, but the opposition sought a deferment, citing Ramadan — from March 10, 2024 to April 9, 2024 — that practising Muslims observe as a month of prayer and fasting.

The Opposition, comprising the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) along with its breakaway faction The Democrats, currently has majority in the People’s Majlis or parliament. Together, its MPs on February 11 voted to amend the country’s General Elections Act, to enable pushing the polls to a different date.

However, President Muizzu did not ratify the amendment in the first instance. On February 28, the legislature reaffirmed its decision in a fresh vote, after which Mr. Muizzu ratified the Bill. 

New Delhi:

India on Thursday said its first civilian team of technical experts has reached the Maldives to replace the military personnel operating an advanced light helicopter in the island nation.

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu had set March 10 as the deadline for the withdrawal of the first group of Indian military personnel from his country.

“The first team of technical personnel to operate the advanced light helicopter has reached the Maldives. It will replace the existing personnel who were operating this platform,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.

Following a second meeting of the high-level core group that was set up to address the issue of withdrawal of the Indian military personnel, the Maldivian foreign ministry had said India will replace all its military personnel in two phases by May 10.

The second meeting of the core group took place in Delhi on February 2.

The two sides decided to set up the core group following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Muizzu on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai in December last year.

At present, around 80 Indian military personnel are in the Maldives, primarily to operate two helicopters and an aircraft that have carried out hundreds of medical evacuations and humanitarian missions.

The ties between the two countries came under some strain since Muizzu came to power in November last year.

Widely seen as a pro-China leader, Muizzu maintained after assuming charge as the president that he will keep his election promise of evicting Indian military personnel from his country.

Muizzu, 45, defeated India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the presidential runoff held in September last year.

The Maldives is one of India’s key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean region and the overall bilateral ties, including in the areas of defence and security, witnessed an upward trajectory under the previous government in Male.

In August 2022, Modi and then Maldivian President Solih kick-started the India-funded Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP), billed as the largest infrastructure initiative in the island nation.

Under the GMCP, a 6.74-km-long bridge and causeway link will be built to connect Maldivian capital Male with the adjoining islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)