Coalition had ignored experts on border affairs in assembling ICJ team

Nov 18, 2021 News

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– Foreign Ministry says in answering Greenidge’s leaked email

Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has responded to recent reportage stemming from a leaked letter that was sent to Head of State, President Irfaan Ali, complaining, among other things, about the inclusion of key individuals on the Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Border case with Venezuela, being adjudicated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

According to the Ministry, “none of those persons joined the local team at their own bidding.”
The Ministry said, “…they were each identified and invited by Minister Hugh Todd, to lend their support to this preeminent national effort and their involvement has the full support of His Excellency President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.”
Advisor on Border Affairs, Carl Greenidge in his formal complaint to the Head of State, had given Ali an ultimatum, namely to remove Minister Todd, from the management of the case, among other demands. The information documented in a letter by Greenidge to the President outlined grievances and infighting, involving Todd and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira in addition to Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname, Keith George.
The Ministry however, is adamant that Minister Todd, “recognised that the local team previously assembled under the APNU/AFC administration did not include some key persons who have years of professional knowledge on the Guyana/Venezuela controversy.”

With regards Ambassador George, the Ministry in justifying his role and involvement in the preparation of the case, said, George served as Head of the Frontiers Department for 12 years prior to being appointed Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname and spent the past 21 years on matters related to Guyana’s land and maritime boundaries, but was excluded.

Additionally, the ministry in its defense of Ambassador George said, he is “well recognised for the integral role he played in the years leading up to and ending with the arbitration that delimited the maritime boundary with the Republic of Suriname.”
With regards to Ambassador George, Greenidge had told President Ali in his missive that “whilst Ambassador George is not without skills, he is clearly not a Lawyer and in combination with Ms. (Donna) Skeete, he cannot replace…our external Lawyers and the Maritime Expert, that however seems to be the Ministers’ unstated intention.”
According to Greenidge, “no one ever suggested to me that Venezuela is Ambassador George area of expertise, but it seems his views about his preferred role, as apparently, does the Minister.”
He was adamant, “whether he should play a more prominent role—as head of the Frontiers Department, Co-Agent or as Agent to the ICJ,” is a matter for Government to decide on.

Greenidge, “while the decision is not for me, it would affect my assignment.”
He further contended that Ambassador George is already Head of Mission to a strategic neighbour—Suriname—and further contended that the plenipotentiary representative to that country – “would certainly not be able to adequately conduct any of the ICJ related task(s) from Suriname, let alone be considered the expert on Venezuela.”
Meanwhile the Ministry in its defense of Skeet—who has 14 years of experience in the Frontiers Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and is the Department’s current Director—said, she was not fully involved in the matter.
It said too that Trishala Persaud, who served as Head of the Legal and Treaties Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation before being posted to Guyana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, was also not fully involved in the matter.
According to the Ministry in a public missive, “several other persons with great knowledge of the boundaries of Guyana, because of their background in the security services of Guyana were not invited to provide their input. The singular objective of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is to ensure that all available local expertise, specialist and technical support and assistance are made available to Guyana’s international legal team, in order for them to access, with ease, the best possible sources of information, experience and ideas on the matter before the International Court of Justice.”

Greenidge, the former Foreign Affairs Minister who served under the previous administration, but was retained as an advisor on the border case, told President Ali, “my position as Agent and Advisor to the Minister is now untenable in light not only of the questioning and misrepresentations of my judgments and decisions” but in addition to other factors.

To this end, Greenidge in handing his ultimatum to the President called for video recording of the tenuous meeting to be destroyed and that his assignment be confirmed “and the reporting mechanism modified to report to yourself or the VP.”
To this end, the Ministry responded saying the portfolio of Agent requires no special expertise in law since the advocates and counsels contracted are responsible for the preparation of the written and oral pleadings of Guyana.

The Agent’s role is to ensure that there are administrative linkages between Guyana, its international lawyers and the International Court of Justice and to be the liaison between the Government and the international legal team on the policy and substantive issues being addressed by that team. “The Agent does not act independently of the Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation or the other members of the local team.”
To this end, the Ministry said the Agent, reports to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and is supported by two Co-Agents representing Guyana, namely Sir Shridath Ramphal and Ambassador Elisabeth Harper, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

 

 

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