The three day retreat of the All Party Roadmap Talks ended today without reaching any consensus. The retreat which commenced in Bandos Island Resort and Spa on Thursday entailed four meetings where the interlocutors failed to get past the first item of the agenda which was to find a resolution to the ongoing political strife in the country.
To that end, 30 mutually agreeable points were identified as measures to end the political conflict. However, disparity between pro-government political parties and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) hindered the discussions from progressing.
Hence, dialogue on some four points agreeable by MDP had taken place which is believed to have been pressed by the United Nations Envoy.
However, even as the retreat ended without much headway MDP had not disclosed the four points up for discussion.
Pro-government political parties had conditioned the inclusion of the point which prevented MDP from stymieing the political activities conducted in the islets and the visits to the islands by political figures. Meanwhile, MDP had preconditioned the prevention of the usage of foul language directed towards the party in the discussions and the establishment of a mechanism that monitored the actions of the police.
“We asked them (pro-government parties) to agree to even one of our conditions. Then we would agree to four points out of the 30. However, they had failed to agree to even one of our conditions. If so we had been ready to agree to four points,†MDP representative in the Talks and Henveiru-south constituency MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor detailed.
Countering Hamid’s claims, pro-government parties alleged that the failure by MDP to disclose the four points had cast a shadow over the discussions, while stressing that there would have been a possibility of progress if not for the actions of MDP.
“We proposed against stymieing of political activities and visits to the islets. But MDP was unwilling to agree. If they had done so, the outcome could have been much different,†representative of Jumhoory Party and government Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza claimed.
Tensions between the participants of the Talks escalated further last night following the divergences of opinion over discussions of resolving the items of the agenda through a court of law.
To that end, it was mutually agreed among the interlocutors including MDP to take up all issues divided into 30 points in a court of law. Following which, pro-government political parties had proposed to take the rest of the items on the agreed agenda to court. They also suggested reaching a consensus over the proposition and bringing an end to the All Party Talks.
However, Hamid stressed that in no point of the discussions had he agreed to settle the rest of the issues on the agenda through the courts, but did admit to agreeing to resolve the ongoing political turmoil by a court of law.
He further alleged that the rival political parties were attempting to constrict the freedom of expression of MDP.
However, pro-government parties counters such allegations by claiming that major unrest is initiated or incited by MDP and stressed that the political crisis can only be resolved if such actions are ceased.
The 30 conditions as measures to resolve the political crisis included, no attacks on public and private property, no attacks on political figures, no sexual transgressions in public parks where a party’s flag is hoisted, not keeping crows or other animals in public places, not hanging swings that block the pavements, not to stymie anyone from coming ashore of any island, not holding political activities on roads and pavements, not participating in protests while intoxicated, not stymieing the work of the parliament, not using children or logos of a foreign body in a political protest, not spreading exaggerated or false reports through media outlets, not using loud speakers during peaceful and street protests, obeying court orders and not holding street rallies.
It is believed that the Moderator of the Talks Ahmed Mujthaba had also come under verbal attacks during the tension that ensued between MDP and the pro-government parties during the meeting last night.
Following which, it is also believed that Mujthaba at one point had decided to leave the discussions.
As the participants headed towards Male following the end of the retreat around 2.00 this afternoon, the only thing in consensus was and what has always been is to continue the All Party Talks.
“We cannot yet say that the retreat has been a failure. Reason is at the very least 30 points had been drafted and discussed. That in itself is a major achievement,†Abbas said.
However, Hamid was in disagreement and claimed that the failure of reaching a consensus over resolving the ongoing unrest could not be hailed as a success.
Though the three day retreat had all but failed, the parties had agreed to continue with the Talks.
The expenses of the retreat had been borne by the owner of Bandos resort and Vice President Mohamed ‘Deen’ Waheeduddeen.
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