Caribbean Times 90th issue - Friday 15th April 2016

Friday 15th April 2016 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g 15
Belize outlines proposal to end border dispute
BELMOPAN - Belize
has outlined 11 new proposals
that it hopes will end
the latest border dispute
with Guatemala, Foreign
Minister Wilfred Elrington
has said.
Elrington, who met with
his Guatemalan counterpart,
Carlos Raul Morales,
last Friday to discuss the incident
in the Sarstoon area,
said that Belize is hoping
the new proposals will form
part of a new agreement between
the two countries.
Elrington said that Belize
is hoping that the
“channels of the Sarstoon
River shall continue to be
freely navigable by vessels
and boats of each of the two
countries without any interference
or trailing by the
other”.
Last month, the Belize
government called on the
Organisation of American
States (OAS) to conduct
an investigation following
a shooting incident in
which a senior Belize Defence
Force (BDF) member
was shot at least four times
while in the Sarstoon area.
Guatemala and Belize
have had a long-running
border dispute, with Guatemala
claiming the whole or
part of Belize since 1940.
Last month, the 15-member
Caribbean Community
(Caricom) reiterated its
support for Belize.
Belize sent a protest
note to Guatemala over the
incident, but the Guatemalans
replied disagreeing
with Belmopan’s version of
the incident.
Elrington said that the
second proposal calls for
“whenever any vessels of
any one of the parties approaches
the base of the
other party or any other
vessel, it shall reduce its
speed as a token of respect
and friendship and to avoid
injury or damage to persons
SANTO DOMINGO
- Dominican foreign minister
Andrés Navarro and
Haiti counterpart Pierrot
Delienne on Wednesday
said ties between the two
countries are again at “the
highest level,” after their
meeting at Dominican
Foreign Ministry headquarters.
In a news conference at
the end of a meeting aimed
at resuming the political
dialogue, after they were
broken off by disagreements,
Navarro said Delienne’s
presence together
with delegations from both
countries aims to review
the bilateral agenda, especially
the Joint Haitian-
Dominican Committee.
“The aim is to normalise
the dialogue from
this meeting, because there
are many issues of common
interest, as neighboring
countries, that need to
or property”.
He said the law enforcement
and armed forces of
both parties should refrain
from any threatening, abusive
or unfriendly actions,
words or behaviour of any
kind with respect to each
other in and around the said
river.
He said that the parties
shall also co-operate on the
basis of sovereign equality,
mutual benefit and good
fate in order to promote and
achieve the goals of this
agreement and that both
parties shall cooperate in
preventing and countering
any illegal activities including
drug trafficking, human
trafficking, arms smuggling,
contraband and other
illegal activities of a transnational
nature. (Jamaica
Observer).
Dominican Republic and Haiti
ties at the ‘highest level’ again
be addressed for the wellbeing
of both peoples,”
Navarro said, and stressed
the importance for both
nations to foster an “environment
of harmony.”
Among the key points
the commission aims to
discuss is trade, and the
ban on overland access of
twenty-three Dominican
products enacted by Haiti
during former president
Michel Martelly’s term in
office.
He said as the result
of the meeting, economic
issues and cooperation
between the Hispaniola
neighbors would also be
reviewed “as a starting
point to relaunch our relations.”
Navarro said the bilateral
joint committee would
meet in the coming weeks
on a date to be announced,
adding that even though
the talks between the
two countries were never
broken off, “ties were
strained” and “some issues
were left stranded.” (Dominica
Today).