Maldives president DID refuse UN help

President Abdulla Yameen declined a mediation offer from the United Nations Secretary General to help with the state of emergency, undermining government assertions that there was no such refusal.

A video shows UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric talking to reporters about exchanges between the UN and Malé.

One journalist tells him that Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Mohamed Shainee denied that a mediation offer was turned down and asks Dujarric for comment.

“The secretary general offered UN mediation but the president conveyed that mediation was not wanted at this stage,” replies the spokesman.

“I can only speak for half of the phone call. I can only speak for our half,” he says.

The phone call between Yameen and António Guterres took place last Friday, placing it on February 16. The media briefing was at midday EST on Thursday February 22.

“I can only share with you what I’m able to share with you. The secretary general offered mediation, the president conveyed that mediation was not wanted at this stage,” Dujarric repeats.

The government has become increasingly defensive in its statements towards some members of the international community in recent weeks.

It chastised European ambassadors who said they were snubbed, it scolded the media for saying special envoys had bypassed India and, on Thursday, it took the extraordinary step of directly rebuking New Delhi.

“The assertion by the Government of India that the extension of the State of Emergency by the People’s Majlis was unconstitutional is a clear distortion of facts, which ignore the Constitution and Laws of the Maldives,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

New Delhi has said it is deeply dismayed by the state of emergency’s extension.

Photo: presidencymaldives.gov.mv