No to US demands

Former President ANR Robinson yesterday declined to comment on reports that Guyana was about to break with the rest of Caricom on the issue of the International Criminal Court.

Robinson, who was a major player in the campaign to establish the ICC, said he thought that he had said enough on the matter already. He did not wish to comment on the reports that the Caricom solidarity which he had called for was now being severely fractured. Guyana’s President Bharat Jagdeo had stated that that country could not afford to do without the military aid from the United States. Jagdeo was reported as saying that unless the Manning initiative — to go to Washington and meet US President George W Bush to seek a waiver on the US decision — was implemented, Guyana would sign a bilateral agreement exempting US citizens from the jurisdiction of the court by the end of next week.

Robinson said he had not yet read the newspapers which reported on the issue. But he stressed that “of course” he stood by his original position — that Caricom held fast on the issue and will not give in to the United States’ demands. Up to yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago authorities had no official contact with the authorities in Guyana. Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift maintained his position that he didn’t want to be speculative in view of this fact. Asked to explain what the “Manning initiative” was all about, Gift said that at Montego Bay, the leaders discussed the fact that there was an invitation extended to Manning to  meet with the US President. “This was purely on a bilateral basis.  But naturally a lot of bilateral issues are also Caricom issues. It was felt therefore that if the Prime Minister were in fact going to Washington that he would not limit his dialogue to only bilateral issues,” Gift stated.

A legal spokesman at Foreign Affairs stated yesterday that the decision taken by Caricom leaders on the ICC in Montego Bay recognised that some members may wish  to conclude Article 98 agreements with the United States once they were advised by those legal authorities that the proposed agreement was consistent with their obligations under the Rome Statute (which establishes the ICC). The official noted that Jagdeo did not indicate whether Guyana’s legal authorities had given advice on whether there was some compatability between signing the agreement and meeting the ICC obligations.  However, the source stated that Trinidad and Tobago was maintaining its position that the two agreements were not compatible.