A letter sent by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to the Mauritius Prime Minister amid a maritime boundary dispute has been made public, confirming the authenticity of a letter leaked during the presidential election campaign.
Solih's letter to the Prime Minister was made public by the President's Office with a statement released on Tuesday. There was no difference between the original and leaked letters.
In the letter, President Solih stated that he would maintain the country's longstanding stance on the border issue. The Maldives stand has not changed, he wrote.
An international court needed to demarcate a maritime boundary between the Maldives and Mauritius after Chagos was deemed to be part of Mauritius. The Maldives previously argued that Chagos was not part of Mauritius but later changed the stance.
The letter sent to Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth by President Solih on August 22, 2022 contained secret matters related to the country's interest, the opposition claimed at the time, calling for the letter to be publicly disclosed.
The previous government denied that the letter included any matter related to national security but declined to make it public on the grounds that letters exchanged between heads of state needed to be kept confidential.
The letter was then leaked during the campaign for the last presidential election.
According to the leaked letter, President Solih said the Maldives would vote in favor of Mauritius in a resolution proposed at the UN General Assembly after the International Court of Justice decided that Chagos belonged to Mauritius.
President Solih's letter also offered assistance from the Maldives government if the Mauritius Prime Minister wished to travel to Chagos through the Maldives.
