Belize and Guatemala meet to settle dispute
Members of Belize’s negotiating team returned home today following a series of meetings with officials in Guatemala. The talks, held in Washington D.C. under the auspices of the Organisation of American States, were the first high level negotiations held since the election of Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo earlier this year. While the new president’s assumption of power promised a thaw in relations, which had grown icy during the election campaign, hope for progress were dashed when a series of incidents along the border resulted in a reaffirmation of the Guatemalan territorial claims to Belize. It is against this background that the two sides agreed to meet in the U.S. capital. Two of Belize’s negotiators, Attorney General Godfrey Smith and Ambassador Eamon Courtenay, spoke to the press on their return.
Godfrey Smith, Attorney General
“The objectives were very simply one, to agree with the Guatemalans on terms of reference for facilitators, and terms of reference for a mixed commission, and both those objectives were successfully arrived at. I should point out that as we speak, what is suppose to be happening at the OAS headquarters in Washington, what we agreed at ten o’clock last night is supposed to be signed off on this morning as we are speaking. That is, terms of reference for a panel of two facilitators, one appointed by Belize and one by Guatemala, signing off on terms of reference for a mixed commission comprising of ten commissioners, five appointed by Belize, five appointed by Guatemala. And signing off on a diplomatic letter to the Secretary General of the OAS, His Excellency Dr. Cesar Gaviria, with both sides requesting him in his capacity as Secretary General of the OAS, to serve as an impartial witness of honour in the negotiation process to the panel of facilitators. A date was set for the installation of the panel of facilitators at thirty-first August 2000. So far Belize has already named its facilitator, Sir Shridath Ramphal former Secretary General of the Commonwealth. Guatemala is as yet… They are still to name their facilitators, they haven’t done so as yet.
Stewart Krohn
“At the same time, that you are seeking to negotiate a long term solution to the problem, can you report on any specific agreements that you’ve come to, to ease the immediate tensions on the border?”
Godfrey Smith
“No, there has been no specific measures for confidence building along the border. The earliest we hope that will happen is on or before… As I said, we agreed to a meeting between the ministers of defence and other high ranking officers on or before August fifteenth. What they are supposed to do at that time, is to deal with the very question you raise, “What can we do in a very short period of time to deal with tensions along the border and incidents that might occur?” And hopefully on August thirty-first, when the mixed commission has its first meeting, those matters will be squarely addressed. But no, we did not get into the details, it was more establishing terms of references, frameworks and target dates, deadlines, for the beginning of discussions on actual measures.”
Heading the Belizean delegation was Ambassador Assad Shoman. It also included Permanent Secretary David Gibson and Ambassador Moises Cal. The Guatemalan team was led by Foreign Minister Gabriel Orellana Rojas.
