Shainee: No urgent need for all-party talks anymore

Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Dr. Mohamed Shainee has declared that the country had returned to normalcy, and that there was no longer any pressing need for the government to hold talks with the opposition political parties.

Minister Shainee made the comment in an interview to Indian newspaper, The Wire, along with Foreign Secretary, Dr. Ali Naseer, at the sidelines of The Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi, India.

In the interview published by The Wire on Monday, January 23, Dr. Shainee said that Maldivian government had initiated all-party talks for a second time, and were waiting for the opposition parties to provide the government with names of representatives from each political party which will be participating.

Dr. Shainee said he was shocked over the “blame game” against the government which resulted in the failure of the first round of all-party talks.

“During that time, they (opposition) had come out (of the talks) and said (what) was never agreed. Later, we came to know that the agreement was with someone else who was not approved as a negotiator from the government side. So, there were second channels, parallel channels and that was blamed on the government,” reported Dr. Shainee to The Wire.

He said the name of people who will be negotiating on behalf of the government had been shared with the mediating body, United Nations.

“This time we want to ensure that whoever is coming to the table is legitimate. Because if you are following from newspapers, even the opposition has a lot of internal conflicts, so someone who comes now to the party talks and reaches an agreement could go out and say that no, this was not approved by the council by the highest authorities. We want to avoid this situation,” said Dr. Shainee.

Shainee, who is the chief government negotiator, said that there was no longer any pressing need for the government to engage in discussions with the opposition.

“For us, life in the Maldives is normal. So, if there was a situation where there was a need for reconciliation or something… that requires an understanding that needs to be out of the norm, then, I am sure that they (opposition) will be coming to us,” said Shainee.

He said that the people of Maldives accepted and appreciated the development brought by President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. And were no longer demonstrating against him.

“The world has come to know as well that there is no valid argument to come out on the streets. The public has seen and felt the level of engagement that the government has with the islands. There is development in almost every island. The people are seeing this physically. They don’t want to disrupt this development that President Yameen is bringing to the country,” said Shainee.