President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that his position had always been for Guyana to be part of the Brazil sponsored South American Defence Council.
This is at variance with what Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon has had to say on the subject. Late last month, following the visit of Brazil’s Defence Minister Nelson Jobim to Georgetown, Stabroek News had enquired from Luncheon whether Guyana would join the defence council. He had replied that that there was no immediate intention for Guyana to become a member, abandon its non-alignment principle and “engage in the formation of, or adopt membership in a defence or military pact.”
Asked about the discrepancy yesterday Jagdeo told reporters that his position had always been to participate in the pact. “I think as a South American nation Guyana should participate,” he said.
Guyana had a strong interest in the formation of the council, he said, “once it is not a financial burden on the treasury.”
In his statements Luncheon had recommended a historical analysis of the situation and had said that over the years Guyana had maintained its non-alignment to the extent that it had 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 had stated. He had gone to say the country would respond in the context of its national interest. Jobim had visited Guyana to discuss this and other matters with the government. The Mercopress news agency had reported that Jobim had been 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.” The report said that Venezuela, Suriname and Guyana were on the first leg of the regional tour.
According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), while here Jobim had also inked an agreement for Brazil to supply a generator, computers, high precision rifles, helmets and night-vision goggles among other equipment to Guyana.
The Brazilian government was also to assist the GDF with the construction of a command post near Bartica, GINA said.
Brazilian Ambassador to Guyana Arthur Meyers had defended the formation of the defence council and according to GINA, had 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 the 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.
According to Mercopress the South American Defence Council would 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 too that Jobim had 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.” 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 the sovereignty of the countries in the area.
