No: 2012/38
On Thursday, 22 March Lord Howell of Guildford, the CommonwealthMinister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office briefed the House of Lords on thedevelopments in the Maldives and responded to questions from the House of Lords.
When questioned whether events in the Maldives were tantamount to a coup, Lord Howellresponded that this was indeed not the case. Lord Howell called for continued engagement ofthe Commission of National Inquiry in establishing the full facts surrounding the transfer ofpower.
“We do not recognise this as a coup, although obviously there has been a change, we still need to establish the full circumstances of what occurred and we hope that the commission ofinquiry will do that.” said Lord Howell.
Lord Howell also welcomed the appointment of Sir Don McKinnon as the Commonwealth'sspecial envoy and spoke of the UK’s support of the Roadmap brokered by India.
Lord Howell affirmed that the UK was “pressing for all sides to show calm and restraint and towork towards a sustainable political solution.”
Lord Howell was also keen to emphasize that the Maldives remained a safe destination fortourists.
“At the moment we do not judge that there is any danger in the tourist areas.” Lord Howellexplained.
In response to the discussions at House of Lords, Minister Dr. Abdul Samad Abdullah thankedthe UK Parliamentarians for their interest and continued engagement in the political process inthe Maldives, and reaffirmed the Government's commitment to resolving the current politicaltensions. The Minister noted that the Constitution of the Maldives establishes a presidentialsystem in which the President and Vice-President are elected together by popular vote. Thus when the President resigns the democratically-elected Vice-President becomes President.
The Minister also noted that the Government has already established an independentinvestigation mechanism to look into events of 7th February. That mechanism has requestedinternational support for the completion of its mandate.
The Foreign Minister also said that in the interests of promoting national unity, President Dr.Mohamed Waheed has given a commitment to discuss the possibility of holding early elections,provided that there is consensus to do so among political parties, and that the necessaryamendments are made to the Constitution
.ENDS
