Belize, Guatemala begin new series of talks
We’ve been down this road many times before, so pardon us if we don’t get overly excited about the latest efforts to put an end to Guatemala’s long running claim to our country. This time around the venue for talks was San Pedro, Ambergris Caye… which is where I caught up with the negotiators.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Their respective positions make them antagonists, if not enemies, but it?s hard to miss the camaraderie between negotiators, Ambassador Assad Shoman of Belize and Guatemala?s Foreign Minister Jorge Briz. Tonight, both Belmopan and Guatemala City are counting on that friendship as the countries enter the next round of negotiations to end the Guatemalan claim to Belize.
This morning, delegations from both countries met in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye as the first meeting in a series of roundtable discussions scheduled to be held approximately every forty-five days. And even though the Ramphal Reichler proposals have been officially shelved, it is clear the Organization of American States remains committed to the process.
Ambassador Assad Shoman, Belize Negotiator
?What we have agreed is that there is no need to reinvent the wheel and to go through everything that we have been through before.?
This morning Ambassador Shoman revealed that the OAS, represented today by Ambassador Raul Lago, will in fact play a pivotal role in the future of negotiations.
Ambassador Assad Shoman
?One of the things that the agreement of September seventh says is that we need to identify what are the issues of fact and issues of law, that we need to entertain and resolve in order to resolve the territorial differendum. And so we have asked the OAS to do that job for us, to bring together everything that we have put to them. And it?s a big job, because we?ve thousands of pages of documents lodged at there, both from Guatemala and Belize, and to distil what is there into something that we can work with and begin to deal with in a certain order because the Guatemalan claim involves both continental territory, island territory, and maritime areas and they will distinguish between those with regard to fact and regard to law and then they will recommend to us which of those issues we should begin with so that we move in an orderly fashion. And at the next meeting we deal with whatever issue they recommended, which I believe we will accept and continue to work there from.?
Jorge Briz, Min. of Foreign Affairs, Guatemala
?As you know, this issue is sensitive and delicate. Such a territorial dispute requires strong cooperation from both countries. We have the firm belief that by working together, responsibly we are going to find a viable solution so that each country can see this joint working relationship, giving the people of each country many results. And we are trying our very best, with a lot of creativity and responsibility, to find a just, equitable, honourable and permanent resolution to the territorial differendum.?
And while public perception is that this process may be just so much wasting of time, both sides accept that an agreement is necessary.
Assad Shoman
?We are convinced that it is not healthy to have a situation in the Twenty-first Century where two neighbouring states are fighting over something that they inherited from centuries past. And that something, that dispute is limiting in their possibilities for development, especially for joint development, for working together for the development of their peoples, and it is something that is an obstacle to better relations between the two countries, and most of all to the development of the two countries, because both of us have the same kind of problems, both of us have poverty that we need to eradicate, both of us have problems of development, we have problems of fitting into this globalise world.?
Jorge Briz
?We are living in a new era of cooperation, working together in friendship, which is very important to reach a peaceful resolution for both our peoples in Belize and Guatemala. And we are grateful to the Minister for the joint cooperation, respect, responsibility, and professionalism during these meetings. We also extend our gratitude to the OAS representative and his committee for their excellent work. And also to our own committees, Minister of Defence and the Commandant of the Belize Defence Force, who have also integrated an excellent team for these discussions to take place so that we can reach agreements and share them with all of you.?
Diane Haylock, U.D.P. Representative
?Naturally you feel a sense of frustration when something falls apart as did the process facilitated by Ramphal and Reichler. But you have to be absolutely hopeful that this thing is going to work out for the best, for the interest of Belize, and so as a party we are committed to doing that.?
And according to Belmopan, as further evidence of Belize?s commitment to a resolution once and for all, it has appointed a new advisory body, chaired by Dylan Vernon, to increase the public?s participation in the process.
Dylan Vernon, Chair, Advisory Council on Guatemalan Claim
?The team meets with the advisory council and the advisory council, before the meeting, gives advice on the next meeting and then after the meeting receives a report from the negotiating team. It?s basically an attempt to ensure that there?s a wider cross section of Belizeans who are involved in the process. And so the advisory council on the Guatemalan claim is made up of seventeen members, thirteen of whom are representatives of various organisations, and the balance whom are individuals who are appointed. And it basically also has a mandate to ensure that there communication with the wider Belizean public when the time is right.?
The next meeting of the negotiators will be held in Guatemala. Tonight we understand that at that meeting issues on the table will be the partial scope trade agreement and a list of some twenty-two topics set for discussion by both parties.
