All Indian troops in Addu City depart

All Indian troops in southernmost Addu City were withdraw, by Sunday.

During his first-ever presidential address delivered to the public at the inaugural sitting of the first People’s Majlis session of 2024, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu announced that the governments of India and Maldives have agreed to complete the process of withdrawing military personnel by 10 May 2024.

The president noted back then that efforts were underway to evacuate Indian military personnel from the Maldives, and this was being done through dialogue and discussions from both sides, under diplomatic rules.

The latest agreement to withdraw the Indian military personnel in one of the three aviation platform by 10 March 2024 was made during the second meeting of the high-level core group between the Maldives and India on February 2.

Shedding light on this meeting, President Muizzu earlier stated that it was agreed to withdraw the troops from one platform by March 10 and the troops from the remaining two platforms would be withdrawn by May 10.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, a media official of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) revealed that all the Indian military personnel stationed in Addu have left and that they left in different groups.

He confirmed that the soldiers operating the helicopter donated by the government of India in Addu City, have left the city. However, he did not detail the specific number of soldiers.

He also did not disclose details of the dates they left.

26 soldiers were sent to Maldives by India to take over the helicopter operations, in February 2023.

Stressing on the need to increase resources for the defence and security of the island nation, the president earlier said that there was a need to enhance the archipelago nation’s capabilities to defend itself by land, sea, and air routes.

The president noted that the biggest pledge he made was to protect the sovereignty and independence of the Maldivian people.