Email

Print

In November of 2008, the Commander of the British Army Training and Support Unit in Belize, Lt. Col. Peter Germain accepted responsibility for the grenades in circulation. He said, "we are to blame...we owned the grenades." He accepted that the British Army was responsible because the grenades, which were used in two separate explosions, were from a batch of 24 stolen from BATSUB in 2004. It was a stunning revelation and admission then but now Germain has been transferred to Afghanistan. His replacement is Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay who today backtracked significantly from Germain's admission of blame. He says the British Army isn't to blame. He told Keith Swift who is.

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay, Commander – BATSUB
"My sincere condolences to the family of Rudolph Flowers and also to those others who were injured in this instance. It is clearly a very tragic situation and it is one that I am sure everybody, and that includes us at BATSUB, feel very sad about."

And sorry is just about all the new BATSUB Commander, Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay can say. That is because Lindsay, who assumed command of BATSUB three months ago, says the investigation into the 24 missing grenades – 6 of which have been recovered – 4 of which have exploded – is stalled.

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay,
"The main issue that took place when 24 grenades were lost just over five years ago, we haven't been able to identify exactly how that happened. Clearly I would love as Commander of BATSUB to be able to point my finger at an individual for the police to come and arrest who was at fault for doing that but we haven't been able to determine who that individual is or the what circumstances or location was that that took place."

Keith Swift,
"Is that individual a British soldier or a Belizean soldier?"

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay,
"Well I really don't know. The grenades out there are dangerous and it has sadly been a Belizean youth who has been murdered."

Keith Swift,
"There've been two Belizean youths killed."

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay,
"But in this last incident I am talking about specifically. It is a threat to everybody. We are taking this seriously but I am afraid to a large extent there is only so much we can do. It is predominantly a police matter."

But Lt. Col. Lindsay says the blame doesn't lie with them, at least not fully. He blames the gangs.

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay,
"And clearly, the people who are most at fault are the gangs who are using them at the moment and I the blame should lie most of all with the individuals who are carrying out criminal acts."

Keith Swift,
"But the gangs wouldn't have had their hands on these grenades if the British Army didn't lose them."

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay,
"Well they were stolen from us yes."

Keith Swift,
"So then if we are assigning blame, then it started with you guys?"

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay,
"Well you can track things like that back forever. I would say that the blame fundamentally lies with the criminals who are using grenades."

And even if there was negligence in the handling of these grenades by the British Army, under the Status of Forces Agreement signed in 1994. Lt. Col. Lindsay also doesn't believe the army is morally liable.

Lt. Col. Rob Lindsay,
"I feel extremely regretful for the loss of life but I am not going to start speculating about moral obligation and I am afraid that that is outside of my purview and very much I regret what has happened but it is not the responsibility of BATSUB as to what happened last week. That is the responsibility of the individual who threw the grenade and the individual who provided him with the grenade."

Lt. Col. Lindsay says that in December, personnel from the Royal Engineer Search Team visited Belize and will develop a training course for Belize's security agencies.