The government has revealed that its final report on the Chagos case, based on the reports of experts, will be submitted to the Cabinet next month.
At a press conference, Principal Secretary to the President Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim said the administration is working on submitting a case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to recover the country's lost ocean territory. He also said the documents related to the case are being reviewed by the special committee appointed to submit the case to ITLOS. As such, he said that the Attorney General's Office has received the first copy of a paper submitted by a Maltese professor and that the final report will be submitted to the Cabinet by the end of February.
In April last year, ITLOS ruled that the Maldives should have a majority share of the disputed territory between the maritime boundary of the Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago, ending the 58-year-old dispute and ensuring that the Maldives did not lose the southern part of its territory. The ruling was in favour of the then-government of the Maldives. However, the opposition alleged that the administration agreed to give up Maldivian territory to Mauritius.
Appealing the ITLOS decision is a pledge of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. As such, the new administration's roadmap for the first 100 days in office includes appealing the ITLOS decision.