Sovereignty over Chagos rightfully ours: President Nasheed

Speaker of the Parliament and former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed stated that Maldivian fishermen built and lived in huts on Chagos Archipelago to fish, and therefore Maldivians have every right to claim sovereignty of Chagos.

According to a document shared by President Nasheed, titled “Foalhavahi: A Maldivian Uninhabited Island”, historical evidence suggests Chagos island belonged to Maldivian territory. He said that in his writing he refers to Peros Banhos, an atoll of the Chagos Archipelago, as Foalhavahi and since many slaves were brought to Maldives and Peros Banhos in the 1700s, it was likely that some slaves got separated and sent to Maldives and Peros Banhos.

President Nasheed argued that the sovereignty of the Chagos must revert back to its natives when the British leave the islands. Nasheed noted that Peros Banhos remained uninhabited and only Diego Garcia was inhabited; half of it was now Mauritian and the other half British.

President Nasheed stated in his document that no one from Peros Banhos was relocated to Mauritius and that Maldivian fishermen occupied Peros Banhos where they lived in huts. Therefore, despite the sovereignty of Diego Garcia and other atolls reverting back to Mauritius, Maldives deserved to have ownership of Peros Banhos.

While the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) hears the Chagos-Maldives maritime territorial dispute, the Maldivian government has accepted Mauritian claim over the sovereignty of Chagos Islands and have ultimately agreed to waive a 100 nautical mile area of the Maldivian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).