– Luncheon
Guyana has no immediate intention of becoming a member of the Brazil-touted South American Defence Council, since government believes that such an undertaking is one that should not be taken lightly.
Government spokesman Dr Roger Luncheon said this yesterday at his post-Cabinet media briefing following a question from this newspaper about government’s stance on the Brazilian proposal. However, he said, Guyana would definitely be responding in the context of its national interest.
Mercopress news agency reported last week that the largest South American nation’s Defence Minister Nelson Jobim was set to tour several South American nations to draft a mid-term or possibly long-term South American defence identity so that “we can have a strong united continent”. According to that report, he made the announcement to members of two congressional committees.The report said Venezuela, Suriname and Guyana were on the first leg of the regional tour. The Government Information Agency (GINA), earlier this week, reported that President Bharrat Jagdeo met Jobim and a team at the Office of the President.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and army Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best were also at the meeting. GINA said the focus of the meeting was the countries’ bilateral and multilateral matters regarding security and it also saw the inking of an agreement for Brazil to supply an electronic powered generator, computers, high precision rifles, helmets and night vision goggles among other equipment to Guyana.
The Brazilian government is also to assist the GDF with the construction of a command post near Bartica, GINA said.
The release quoted Brazil’s Ambassador to Guyana, Arthur Meyer, as saying that the matter of the defence council was discussed at the meeting and that the formation of the council was expected to be discussed in detail at the Summit of Heads of State of South America slated for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil late next month.
Yesterday when Stabroek News asked Luncheon whether Guyana was contemplating being part of the council, he said government had no immediate intention to do so. “There isn’t any immediate intention of the administration to abandon its non-alignment principles and to engage in the formation of or to adopt membership in a defence or military pact.”
He recommended a historical analysis of such a situation and said that over the years Guyana has maintained its non-alignment to the extent that it has not sought to become a party to regional defence pacts or bodies.
“There has been very little over these years that could have caused Guyana to alter that long-standing position on its non-alignment,” he reiterated.
Luncheon further acknowledged that the more recent geo-political issues generate concern about collaboration beyond the level with which Guyana and Brazil currently collaborate, adding, “to move forward to engage in become a participating member of a defence pact in South America is not an undertaking that we would take lightly, but definitely we will respond in the context of our national interest.”
The local and Brazilian armies currently engage on several areas including training opportunities.
Ambassador Meyers had defended the formation of the defence council and according to GINA, stressed that it was not a military alliance. Rather, he said, the council’s objectives would be based on principles of respect, national sovereignty, non–interference in internal affairs of all states involved and respect for their borders.
He also said that the council would simply be a forum for ministers to discuss and debate matters of mutual consideration.
Mercopress said Jobim was also planning to meet officials from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador and some time in the second half of the year he would be travelling to meet the governments of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia.
According to the publication, the South American Defence Council should help to co-ordinate joint military exercises among the different member countries and could include the collective participation in United Nations peace operations.
The report said Jobim also emphasized that the council was not a plan to face a “common enemy of the region and therefore it will not be a structure in the lines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was created in the context of the Cold War and which brings together defence structures from North American and Europe.”
A Caribbean Net News article said Jobim had visited Venezuela before coming to Guyana and in his discussions on the council had said that establishing liaisons among South American armed forces stems from unity of the peoples “since a problem in any of our countries is of interest for the others.”
That article stated too that the council would also draft its own defence policy, develop joint exercises, exchange personnel among the respective armed forces and act as alternative mechanism of regional security to help protect sovereignty of the countries in the area.
