Is Fear of Dengue Reason Why B.D.F. is Reluctant to Build F.O.B. on Sarstoon Island?

David Jones

So will the Coast Guard’s Forward Operating Base be constructed at the mouth of the Sarstoon? And if so…when? The F.O.B. has been on the drawing board for eight years now, and credible sources tell us that funding has already been sourced from the UK. The last we heard was that Guatemala had objected to the construction, delaying the process. That hurdle has reportedly been crossed, but now there’s another. At the press conference B.D.F. Commander David Jones explained that they haven’t been able to find a location at the Sarstoon to support the construction of a suitable, comfortable, adequate F.O.B.

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander, Belize Defence Force

“There is no issue with us constructing the forward operating base. I have expressed before that there is difficulty because of terrain on our side, on the Belize side; on the northern side of the area…the area is very swampy. As mentioned before the Sarstoon Island itself…it is not practical to have a base there even though it is very strategic to say yes the island is ours, but the area is very swampy, even on the northern side. We have located two areas on the northern side of the Sarstoon River that may be able to have a building constructed there that can house the soldiers properly. You can go and put a temporary base there, but you’ll put the soldiers’ livelihood at peril. It is better if you do something you do it right; have it constructed properly. So it is not just a matter of just jump in there, construct a building because you have to take into consideration the soldiers or the coastguard men that will be able to work there. because while you are sleeping in your beds, they will be there killing mosquitoes, being at the elements, getting dengue because there is no water available for them there. You need to take a lot of things into consideration. Even in bottle; even though you have soldiers, what is more important than the tactics and operations that you plan is logistics. And having your soldiers out there takes logistics; it is going to be expensive. You need to think it through before you act. So you need to be more deliberate in your thought process. So it doesn’t make sense to rush into getting something constructed. A contractor was contracted to build that base, unfortunately after a couple of years, he came to the conclusion that it cannot be done because of the terrain. So it is best to take it out to tender; whichever engineer could come out with the best solution to get the base done, I am definitely and I am deadly sure that our government is going to support to have that base built. If it can be done as quickly as possible, we will welcome it because it is a strategic point to the Belize Defence Force and the Coastguard.”