Turning now to Foreign Affairs, on last week's episode of Uncut, Ambassador Assad Shoman ruffled some feathers when he said that Belizeans shouldn't be alarmed at the recent incidents of aggression in the Sarstoon. The BTV yesterday wrote a letter to the Prime Minister condemning what they characterized as him dismissing these assaults.
The letter states, quote, "We cannot have an Ambassador to The Hague representing us when he refuses to acknowledge these assaults, downplaying the gravity of the situation. Before Belize's decision to proceed to the International Court of Justice, Ambassador Shoman assured the Belizean people that no further incidents would occur in the Sarstoon. Unfortunately, this assurance has not been met, and yet he continues to minimize the severity of these occurrences." End quote. They added that it was alarming and unacceptable that Shoman admitted to not knowing the timeline of the court case.
We asked the Foreign Minister about these comments today.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs "In terms of the ICJ, I mean it's clear that that is in the hands of the court. So like any court, I think what Assad was saying was he was being frank and honest, that it's up to the court. The court sets the timeline."
"We have not yet received a date for the oral hearings, so if we've not received a date for the oral hearings as yet, then we're in no position to say when there will be a final determination of this matter."
"We've always said, listen, once we receive a date for the hearings, that will take a few months, maybe as I have been advised, perhaps three to six months as much as that for the hearings, the oral hearings, and then after that the court, they will have an opportunity to review the matter, there may be an opportunity to respond, and then the court will make a determination, which again could take anywhere from six months to a year."
"So what I have said to people is that we're looking at a window of probably two years for some determination of this matter, but that's entirely up to the court, and that's the point Assad, I think, was making."
Jules Vasquez"Do you feel he was dismissive of the events on the Sarstoon, and they have accused you of the same?"
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs "Yeah, I mean, we've responded to that, and absolutely we take a backseat to no one, including the territorial volunteers, in terms of our defence of the Sarstoon."
"We understand that it's a critically important issue. I have made it absolutely clear that every opportunity that has arisen, we have made this point directly to the Guatemalans, directly to the president of Guatemala."
"We sat across the table from him, the prime minister made that point, I made that point. We made it to the foreign minister of Guatemala, to the defence minister of Guatemala, who was there as well. So we are very clear and comfortable in terms of our position, in terms of the Sarstoon, and we're very confident about Belize's position as it relates to ownership of a part of the Sarstoon River."
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Turning now to Foreign Affairs, on last week's episode of Uncut, Ambassador Assad Shoman ruffled some feathers when he said that Belizeans shouldn't be alarmed at the recent incidents of aggression in the Sarstoon. The BTV yesterday wrote a letter to the Prime Minister condemning what they characterized as him dismissing these assaults.
"We have not yet received a date for the oral hearings, so if we've not received a date for the oral hearings as yet, then we're in no position to say when there will be a final determination of this matter."