Crisis in Maldives: Can talks succeed?
31 May 2015, 12:57 PM
Hassan Mohamed
After months of daily protests and hundreds of arrests, the Maldivian government has called for separate talks with the allied opposition parties. But Maldivians are skeptical of a solution with the government unwilling to discuss the triggers for political unrest – the imprisonment of ex-president Mohamed Nasheed and ex-defence minister Mohamed Nazim.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) insists Nasheed must represent it at the talks, but President Abdulla Yameen has rejected the former-president’s nomination on the grounds he is serving a 13-year jail-term on a terrorism conviction.
The president’s agenda consist of political reconciliation, strengthening the judiciary, and political party participation in economic and social development.
Ahmed Faraz, a 21-year-old law student at the Maldives National University, said he has no hope: “The president is unwilling to compromise at all. He has already decided the agenda and rejected the MDP’s main demand, which is to release Nasheed. So I don’t see a solution unless one party decides to give in.”
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