Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu on Saturday pledged to strengthen the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and said the current condition of the army is poor.
“This is very unfortunate. Years have passed without attention being paid to these issues. This is the Maldivian army. This is unacceptable. This is not what Maldivians deserve,” Muizzu said, lamenting that there are currently 10 small vessels available for the Coast Guard’s use and out of those some are unusable.
His comments came during the inauguration ceremony of MNDF Air Corps and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) held at Noonu atoll Maafaru International Airport.
“Vessels of various sizes will be procured, and the process is already underway, as mentioned earlier, with the Turkish government working closely with us. We are also in discussions with friendly nations,” Muizzu was quoted as saying by The Edition.
He also said that efforts being undertaken to strengthen the Maldivian army should not worry any nation. “We are not enemies of any country. What is important for us is to ensure that this country stands on its own feet and is self-reliant. Unless this country is self-reliant in every sense of the word, be it economically or in military capacity, and is a place where people live in peace and prosperity, there will be no stability in the region,” he said.
He further added that most of the equipment that will be used by the MNDF Air Corps to survey the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Maldives were given as free aid to the Maldives by Turkey, according to The Edition.
The defence deal with Turkey has raised eyebrows and the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said the deal with Turkey to buy drones to conduct 24-hour surveillance of Maldivian waters was overpriced.
They also questioned the President’s trip to Turkey and said the drone deal could have been cheaper as there are more affordable options on the global market.
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