Belize and Guatemala to sign compromis December 8th
The Guatemalan claim to Belize’s territory has been on everyone’s mind and with expectations rising now that the Government has given its nod to take the matter to the International Court of Justice, there are more questions than answers.
On Channel Five’s breakfast show this morning “Open Your Eyes,” which has been doing a series on this issue of national importance, the matter of the so-called compromis or special agreement was raised. The compromis has now been approved by both the Guatemalan and Belizean cabinets and is expected to be signed around December eighth in Washington DC. The agreement will have to get the blessing from the people on both sides for the matter to go the Hague. Eamon Courtenay, former foreign minister and now representative for the opposition on the Belize Negotiating Team was a guest on this morning’s show and says that there is good reason why the special agreement should be taken to the National Assembly.
Eamon Courtenay, National Negotiating Team
“We believe that the national assembly should have debated it and should have in fact authorized the minister to sign it or not authorize the minister to sign it. But the government of the day has decided that it wants to go this way and it’s their decision. They are in charge of the process at this time.”
William Neal
“That was one of the areas that I wanted to touch on. Are there any advantages to signing it before it going to the National Assembly?”
Eamon Courtenay
“Our concern is that if the Foreign Minister signs this agreement and then it comes up before the National Assembly and the National Assembly votes no, now we will be putting Belize in a very bad position on the international scene. So we would have preferred that it had gone to the National Assembly and the National Assembly had given its approval for the adoption of this process.”
As we understand it, the compromis is the agreement between Belize and Guatemala whereby they agree to submit the claim of Guatemala to the ICJ for its final and binding decision. Both countries had to use the compromis since neither has signed up to the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ. In the compromis, the parties have set out the timetable for filing documents in court, they have agreed on the questions to be decided by the Court, and they have also agreed on the question to be asked in the referendum. It is expected that the compromis will be made public after it has been signed.
The ruling U.D.P. party did not accept an invitation to appear on the show because its representative said the party does not yet have a position. Tune in tomorrow when the government representative, David Gibson and Chief Negotiator, Fred Martinez, discuss the issue on Open Your Eyes.
