Global IssuesBELIZE-GUATEMALA: Decades-Old Land Dispute Heads to Court
It has formed part of the communiqué issued at the end of the annual summits of Caribbean Community leaders for more than a decade.
Regional leaders have long reaffirmed their "full support for the maintenance of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belize" in its border dispute with Guatemala and have always sought a negotiated settlement to the matter.
Guatemala claims some 12,700 square kilometres of Belizean soil -- more than half of the former British colony's total territory.
On Monday, both Guatemala and Belize announced they had signed a special agreement referring all their border differences to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for arbitration, but which would be dependent on a referendum in both countries.
The agreement also outlines the procedures to be adopted by both parties in submitting their claims to the ICJ, whose ruling the Belize government hopes will "definitively put an end to Guatemala's unfounded claim and removes any chance of Guatemala raising other claims in the future against Belize's territory".
"More importantly it requires that the Parties will abide by the Court's ruling in good faith, including a joint demarcation of the boundary. If, however, Guatemala (or Belize) chooses to become intransigent, this provision allows Belize (or Guatemala) to request within three months of the Court's ruling that the OAS appoint members of a bi-national Commission and to demarcate the boundary. "
Belize, which gained independence from Britain on Sep. 21, 1981, has been dogged by Guatemala's longstanding claim to the entire territory dating back to an 1859 treaty between Britain and Spain.
Historians claim that from Britain's viewpoint, the treaty had merely settled the boundaries of an area already under British dominion. But Guatemala later developed the view that this agreement was a treaty of cession through which Guatemala would give up its territorial claims only under certain conditions, including the construction of a road from Guatemala to the Caribbean coast.
The dispute appeared to have been forgotten until the 1930s, when the government of General Jorge Ubico claimed that the treaty was invalid because the road had not been constructed.
Guatemala has periodically massed troops on the border with Belize, and former Prime Minister George Price refused an invitation from Guatemalan President Ydígoras Fuentes to make the country an "associated state" of Guatemala
Now as the two countries prepare their respective populations to participate in the referendum, the recently elected Dean Barrow government in Belize is insisting that the move to the ICJ is the preferred option.
Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington has described the signing of the special agreement as "a tiny but historic step more for the symbolism than in fact for the practical aspect of what transpired" adding that "this agreement will not be sent to the ICJ if the Belizean people say they don't want to go to the ICJ."
"If when we have the referendum, the decision is no, the people of at the ICJ will never see it and we will simply put this one in the scrap heap and move on with a view to resolving this dispute. So what is really happening is the exercise of democratisation in its most extreme form. I don't know of any other country which has in fact put into the hands of these people the responsibility to determine the future of the country," he said in a television broadcast on Tuesday night.
But the foreign minister is warning that the government cannot think of any other alternative to solving the centuries-old dispute, save for picking up arms.
"Regretfully we have no military might, miniscule, just a token military might. But that is what we should do if we don't want to go to the ICJ," he said.
"I am limited in my mental capacity, I can only think of two things: the ICJ or trying to take up arms and defend the border. I know that is almost futile, but I am reassured by the story of David and Goliath," he added.
The Belize government believes that the special agreement will go before both parliaments next year with the referenda scheduled for late summer.
Since 2000, the Organisation of American States has adopted a mediator role, with both parties agreeing to establish a Facilitation Process that made proposals which were rejected by Guatemala in 2003. In October last year, both Belize and Guatemala told the OAS that they were unable to reach agreement on any issue, paving the way for the ICJ alternative.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza had in November 2007 recommended that since negotiations had failed, both countries should take the dispute to the ICJ.
On Tuesday, he said even if the issue does not get past the referenda, he would be still happy with how far both countries have come in a bid to settle the matter.
"It's the end of a process and the beginning of another one. I hope that this part of the process will pass the final obstacle, which is the approval by the referendum in both countries," he said in a statement broadcast on Channel5Belize television.
"I will be satisfied with this part of the process, but the referendum needs to take place in both countries and therefore we have definitely a compromise to go to the ICJ," he said, reminding Belizeans that the court is not characterized by the short time or the brevity of deliberations.
"But I do hope that within this decade we will have a final solution to this problem," he said, adding that the signing of the special agreement "is a show of the willingness of the governments to look forward to a much better relationship and to a solution to this very old controversy. "
© Inter Press Service (2008) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service