Maldives to rejoin Commonwealth
The decision to rejoin Commonwealth was made at a cabinet meeting on Monday
A cabinet meeting was held on Monday
Maldives has decided to rejoin the Commonwealth, two years after withdrawing from the 53-nation group.
The country left the Commonwealth during former President Abdulla Yameen’s administration in October 2016, amid mounting pressure from the group over corruption and deteriorating human rights.
It accused the Commonwealth of interfering in domestic affairs and “unfair and unjust” treatment.
The newly appointed cabinet ministers of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih passed to rejoin the Commonwealth at a meeting on Monday.
President Solih has pledged to rejoin the Commonwealth, and to commence work to do so within the first 100 days of his term.
While proposing to rejoin the organization was in the agenda for the first week, the cabinet made this decision on the second day since Solih assumed office.
While President Yameen’s administration decided to withdraw from the Commonwealth, this decision was endorsed by the parliament with 39 lawmakers voting in favor and 19 against.
The move came after a warning by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, to suspend the Maldives ‘if the political crisis triggered by the jailing of opposition leaders is not resolved’.
The decision to end Maldives' 34-year membership with Commonwealth was widely criticized by both the local and international community.
