Exiled opposition leader, former President Mohamed Nasheed has accused Saudi Arabia of planning to use Maldives as a base to safeguard its oil trade routes to new markets.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that President Abdulla Yameen plans to sell an entire atoll-Faafu Atoll- to Saudi Arabia. Denying the sale, President Yameen had said that the proposed development of the atoll “will bring in USD 10 billion” and that details of the project will be revealed at the right time. However, this did not give any reassurance to the public, with reports also indicating that the Faafu Atoll sale will be made official during King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud’s visit to the Maldives, this March.
In an interview with Climate Home, former President Nasheed called the deal “disturbing”, noting that there was “no public tender process.”
He said that the Saudis “want to have a base in the Maldives that would safeguard the trade routes, their oil routes, to their new markets, to have strategic installations, infrastructure.”
In addition to Nasheed, Climate Home’s report cited foreign policy experts, who also believe that Saudi Arabia “is seeking to secure oil trade routes to east Asia through a multi-billion-dollar investment in a Maldives atoll.”
It said that the move “could prefigure a Chinese military expansion into the heart of the Indian Ocean.”
However, one expert, Dr. Theodore Karasik- senior advisor to Gulf State Analytics in Washington DC- said that the Saudis motivation might not be militaristic.
According to him, Saudis are not looking to set up bases anywhere, adding that they “use allies and proxies to try to achieve strategic and tactical goals.”
He said that their intentions “is to build up a network of allies that form a logistical chain from the Gulf to east Asia and back.”
“Saudi partnership with other countries will be required to ensure that freedom of navigation remains and that piracy and terrorism doesn’t occur,” Karasik told Climate Home.
Senior editor of the The Diplomat said that Maldives has more to gain from the Saudi deal, noting that the geopolitical layer “is more on the Maldives side for now.”
According to the opposition, Saudi Arabia has “created a pliant ally, where a few questions are asked, and fewer are allowed.”
Opposition lawmaker, Eva Abdulla told Climate Home that all the public is being told are that such projects “will be a trickle-down effect,” adding that all the benefits goes to government MPs and their cronies.
The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has requested for details of the controversial project at the Parliament Public Finance Committee, and has also passed a motion to recover any land sold off by the current administration.
