But while the government and the opposition leader seem to be on the same page with this one - Belize's Agent at the ICJ, Assad Shoman holds a slightly different position. Last week he told us that he doesn't have much confidence in the Guatemalans - and it might not be wise to first ask them to take measures on the river - when Belize may end up eventually having to ask the Court to do the same:…
H.E. Assad Shoman
"Imagine the situation. If we framed a request for provisional measures for the court to ask Guatemala to do ABC, right. And if before that Guatemala says to us, 'Look we are looking to do ABC.' How do you justify going to a court and asking them to do what they already said they would do? We have to watch that. I personally don't have much hope that the Guatemalan's will come to their senses, if I can put it that way."
Shoman ended on an up note by saying "in politics anything is possible."
Today the Prime Minister said he holds a different position - and it's not Shoman's decision to make:
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"The agent has indicated he believes that even if you get am undertaking from the Guatemalans, given their history they won't comply and then you will be in the same position of having to go to court and the court will say but these people have already given an undertaking, why are you coming to me? So it is a waste of time to try and engage them in good faith when they have never shown good faith."
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow- Prime Minister
"I respectfully disagree and I will respectfully point out that that decision is for the government to make, not for the... with every willingness on our part to always take seriously whatever Assad Shoman says, I don't propose to alter the sense that we have that it would be good if in fact the Guatemala would agree to some written down binding protocol to be as it were, monitored in terms of implementation by the OAS in the same way as the deal with adjacency zone matters and of course to be subject to the continuing scrutiny of the US Southcom, who are acute. They will tell you they are there to hold the balance even, but even in terms of that sort of formally limited role, it is clear that they are the big boys on the block and so if we can get an understanding with the Guatemalans that could be written down and that would have been encouraged by the OAS and Southcom I would really think that that would mark a new departure and would be something that I would have to consider an encouraging development."
According to the PM, Assad Shoman will be paid an Ambassador's salary and will be named Special Envoy to the Prime Minister on sovereignty matters. He will work out of Belmopan - and no office will be set up in the Hague.
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