Belize/Guatemala facilitation enters new phase
Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luigi Enaudi, today left the country after a two-day working visit. In fact, the O.A.S. diplomat spent the last week meeting with Belizean and Guatemalan officials in an attempt to re-start the stalled facilitation process. When Guatemala rejected the set of proposals put forward by facilitators Shridath Ramphal and Paul Reichler, the process was basically left without a framework. When he sat down to brief the local media and a full compliment of top members of diplomatic corps, Enaudi said there is reason to believe that there is now a workable plan with which to move forward, including alternate formulas that can be mutually beneficial to both countries. In the preamble to his presentation, Enaudi said that the substance of the dispute has been fleshed out many times and that it is now time to move seriously towards a conclusion.
Luigi Enaudi, Asst. O.A.S. Secretary General
“My own definition of how we should approach this is really to look at in terms of three phases. The first is to try to reach agreement on the shape of the settlement. The second is to ensure its legal approval in both countries and the third is to ensure effective implementation. I do not want to participate in what might be called an orphan agreement that is easily forgotten by all before it ends, as soon as it is concluded and before it is fully implemented.”
“We inherit from the prior process a degree of attention and concern by the international community, and I should say support from the international community. There is a group of friends of thirteen states, which I would hope can be in a position to provide substantial and sustained assistance in the period ahead. In the talks I have had in the two countries, there is a sense which we will now need to specify articulate, put into writing that both sides will agree because the O.A.S. will act as the honest broker, the obvious sovereign decision will remain in the two countries, is what happens if they cannot reach direct agreement on issues. And the logical option is to go to some form of legal juridical arbitration or decision process such as the world court. That is I think something generally to be avoided. I think best results are obtained by the people who have to live by those results, but we are also in a position where we now need the results.”
Maritime agreement key to a settlement?
Luigi Enaudi
“We often refer to this as a fundamentally territorial dispute, let me say that I think that with the way the world is going, with the changes of technology and the greater movement of people and goods, that the maritime dimensions are of great importance as well. Much greater importance than has often been realized. And it is possible that there are some beneficial changes that can be made there.”
Are the confidence building Measures adequate?
Luigi Enaudi
“I think the gross answer is that I would favour the confidence building measures continuing because I think that they have made a great deal of difference in the level of communication, exchange of information that had existed on both sides. Now it is also true that not all of those confidence building measures have in fact been implemented to the letter and that certainly is very distressing. I am hopeful that one area in which some changes can be made is in agreement on some form of bi-national commission or bi-lateral mechanism to provide follow up to specific types of measures and ensure that some progress is made.”
While the suggestion that a maritime settlement might be a key factor in ending the dispute, Enaudi says that it is a political decision that has to be made solely by Belize and Guatemala. No time frame for reaching agreement has been put on this fresh phase of the negotiations, but the O.A.S. diplomat says that with stable governments currently in place in Belize and Guatemala, the next three years are going to be crucial.
But even as he leaves on an optimistic outlook, on the ground contacts with leaders of communities on both sides of the disputed border has left the Assistant O.A.S. Secretary General with lingering concerns. Enaudi, in response to a question posed by News 5?s Patrick Jones noted that while it appears that residents in those communities are living in harmony, pockets of grey areas continue to be sources of frustration that reaches all the way to Guatemala City and Belmopan.
Luigi Enaudi
“That tone emerges, but it?s more complicated than that. And because they are not living in harmony always, and they feel that some of the disharmony is created by the lack of clarity and uncertainty about conditions of the location of the border and what that means in terms of their ability to invest. Imagine if poor people feels that way, how the large corporations who will worry about their money think. We have clearly a problem that affects everybody. Let me add something else; this is an issue on which there is a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding. There is clearly a need for greater mediation in that area because in fact there are humans that are being caught up in this badly. There are issues like the drug trafficking that create all kinds of problems. One of the marvellous things over the last couple of years has been that thanks in part to confidence building measures, the Belizean Defence Force and the Guatemalan army has been able to have regular meetings. There are now joint patrols in a number of areas. And in fact there is significant improved cooperation.”
“Probably an unnecessary dispute between Belize and Guatemala over a Guatemalan helicopter that is still sitting there resting in the Sarstoon River where if it could be gotten out it could be helpful in terms of legal proceedings in Guatemala against some of the Norco traffickers. There are all kinds of difficulties being cause on the other hand by Guatemalan peasants moving into Belize and affecting the protected areas and affecting the Belizean ecology. And the Guatemalans feel that when they cannot run afoul of the law the get the short end and that their human rights are violated. These are problems that really are really difficult, they are human, they are horrible for people that live them and some of them are unnecessary and all of them we should try to overcome.”
After the May talks in Washington ended without consensus on the way forward, Enaudi said there was a feeling on both sides that neither country was really interested in a long term solution. His trip to Belize and Guatemala this week was primarily to get a feel for the true position of the two countries, ahead of an upcoming Ministerial meeting at O.A.S. headquarters in Washington on August third and fourth.
