MNDF Generals lie on live TV about Maldivian EEZ

Malé, Maldives - Last night, Chief of Defence Force Major General Abdullah Shamaal, Vice Chief Abdul Raheem, and other senior Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) generals appeared on the government propaganda channel RajjeTV. They claimed that previously, the Maldivian Coast Guard was only able to travel up to 24 miles from the coast of Maldives because the rest of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) was disputed.

General Shamaal further claimed that this limitation was due to the fact that the rest is considered high seas, where the Maldivian Coast Guard cannot operate. He also stated that in the past, the Coast Guard was not allowed to pursue foreign fishing vessels fishing illegally beyond 24 nautical miles from the coast.

However, past tweets by MNDF's official Twitter handle indicate that these claims were false. As early as 2012, the MNDF apprehended illegal fishing vessels much further than 24 nautical miles from the coast. In one instance, the MNDF stopped a Sri Lankan fishing vessel illegally fishing 35 nautical miles from the Maldivian coast. Several other cases also contradict the generals' statements.

Furthermore, Fisheries Minister Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan also appeared to have lied on TV, claiming that Maldives never exercised any form of authority beyond 24 miles. These misleading statements come after the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) decision, which awarded a significant portion of the Maldivian EEZ to Mauritius. The apparent misinformation campaign by both MNDF generals and the Fisheries Minister has cast doubts on the government's credibility and transparency in handling the ITLOS decision's aftermath.