Agreement made to repatriate Somalis within two months

An agreement has been made between the government of Maldives and Puntland government of Somalia, to repatriate 40 Somalis who drifted to Maldives and have been kept under Police supervision.

The agreement was made at a meeting held between a delegation of the UN Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC), which is currently visiting Maldives, a Director General of Puntland government, Maldivian Foreign Minister, officials of MNDF and officials of Maldives Police Service.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hassan Saeed, who participated in the meeting, told Sun Online today that UNODC will prepare a timeline to facilitate the repatriation of the Somalis, which they will share with the Maldivian government.

He said that if the necessary approvals of the UN system can be obtained, the Somalis can be returned in about two months.

The Maldivian government has agreed with UNODC on three issues relating to the repatriation of the 40 Somalis who are currently in Police detention at Dhoonidhoo.

They are to conduct medical checkups to ensure that they are in suitable health condition to be flown back to Somalia, to give permission for the aircraft that comes to collect them to land in the Maldives, and to facilitate their transport to the aircraft.

“We can complete these three things as soon as we receive the timeline. The Defence Minister has agreed to facilitate all three issues without any problem,” he said.

The case earlier was that the Maldivian government should bear the cost of repatriating the Somalis; however, UNODC has now agreed to pay for the charter flight, insurance and security for the Somalis.

“This makes things very easy for us. They said that they will arrange the flight and everything through the UN system, and that it should be possible to finalise everything in about two months. We won’t have to spend on anything,” Hassan Saeed said.

The UNODC delegation met with the 40 Somalis before they departed from Maldives.

“The UNODC delegation told us that the Somalis were quite satisfied with the way they were treated in the Maldives. The delegation met them as a group as well as individually. They noted that one of them had completed memorising the Quran, and that they had obtained more religious education while being here than they had before,” he said.

Maldives has tried on several occasions to repatriate the Somalis, but the efforts were unsuccessful due to the cost and other requirements to be met in the process. President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik met with the Somali Foreign Minister at the Rio+20 Summit to discuss this matter.