Maldives president critical of Baird
OT TAWA • The president of the Maldives is accusing Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird of making “inappropriate and derogatory remarks” at a meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers last month.
A statement posted on the Maldives government website Monday said President Mohamed Waheed has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper criticizing Mr. Baird for comments about domestic policy in the Maldives, which is in the midst of a presidential election.
He said Mr. Baird “posed several harshly worded questions” to his acting foreign minister. But the Canadian minister’s exact words remain unclear.
An official with the Maldives embassy in New York, who spoke to The Canadian Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Baird’s comments contained a “personal bias.”
“The president was concerned by an expression and an admission of personal bias by the honourable minister, detriment to our bilateral relationship and contrary to the high esteem to which we hold the Canadian government and people.”
An election was held in the Indian Ocean island nation on Sept. 7, but no candidate received the required 50% of the vote. A runoff election was scheduled for Sept. 28. That election was suspended by the country’s top court after a candidate challenged the outcome of the first vote.
On Monday, the Maldives’ top court annulled the results of the Sept. 7 election and scheduled a new vote for this month.
On. Sept. 24, Mr. Baird told the foreign ministers gathered in New York that “Canada is very concerned by the delay of the Maldives’ runoff election scheduled for Sept. 28 and by reports of the pepper-spraying of the leading presidential candidate. … This delay is troublesome and can only lead to more instability.”
Mr. Baird’s spokesman, Rick Roth, who has not seen a copy of the letter sent to Mr. Harper, said this could be the source of Mr. Waheed’s concerns.
“He [Mr. Baird] also pointed out the irony of the acting foreign minister of the Maldives representing that country at [the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group], when her president received five per cent of the vote in the first round of the election. Perhaps that is where President Waheed took offence,” Mr. Roth said in a statement.v
Whatever the comments, the Maldives’ president said they have “put unnecessary pressure on an otherwise excellent relationship” between Canada and the Maldives.