The Government has announced that UN Special Envoy Samuel Tamrat will arrive in the country on Monday (July 18) to resume all-party talks.
Speaking to PSM, Fisheries Minister Dr Shainee, who will represent the Government at the talks, said even though UN Envoy Samuel was abroad for a long time he had been keeping up to date with the country’s political situation.
Referring to the previous round of talks, Dr Shainee said the opposition parties had violated agreement to prevent details of the discussions from being made public. He described it as an obstacle for the talks.
The opposition said it will be represented at the talks by the recently established coalition, the Maldives United Opposition.
Responding to this, Dr Shainee said the Government invited political parties to the talks, and there is no political party by the name of the Maldives United Opposition.
The previous round of talks failed after the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party and Adhaalath Party refused to participate.
MDP put forth as a precondition the release of former President Mohamed Nasheed who is serving a 13-year jail term on terrorism charges.
Back then, Adhaalath Party also said it would not participate in the talks unless its leader Imran Abdulla, jailed for 12 years on terror charges, was freed.