20 December 1999
Honduras, Nicaragua to Discuss Dispute About Caribbean Sea Territories
(U.S. diplomat Luigi Einaudi to mediate Dec. 29 talks) (650) By Eric Green Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- The foreign ministers of Honduras and Nicaragua will hold talks December 29 in Miami on ways to peacefully settle a maritime dispute that has brought the nations to the brink of war, the Organization of American States (OAS) has announced. OAS Special Representative Luigi Einaudi, who will serve as mediator for the talks, said at a December 20 press conference that the focus of the meeting "will be mechanisms to prevent unintended clashes, pending a decision on the maritime boundary by the International Court of Justice." He added that "the willingness of both governments to talk underscores the commitment they have made to advance their claims peacefully and within the established norms of international law." Einaudi, a veteran U.S. diplomat who also served as the U.S. special envoy for peace talks that settled a 50-year border dispute between Peru and Ecuador, said he had just returned from a four-day trip to the region, where he met with the presidents of Nicaragua and Honduras, as well as with opposition leaders, church officials, civil society organizations and other groups in a search to defuse tensions in the region. "I'm extremely pleased that in the wake of my visit and having talked today to both foreign ministers" Eduardo Montealegre of Nicaragua and Roberto Flores of Honduras, the two countries "have agreed to meet with me ... to discuss directly the steps and arrangements that need to be adopted to avoid conflict, and one hopes very much to reaffirm progress," said Einaudi, who was director of the Office of Policy Planning Coordination at the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs at the State Department. He also was U.S. Permanent Representative to the OAS from 1989 to 1993. During his four-day trip to the region, Einaudi said, he found Nicaragua and Honduras "in their own ways" determined in their desire to affirm their rights, "but I found also countries that are prepared to try to affirm those rights in a peaceful way and in accordance with international law." The two countries, he added, are ultimately "the ones that have to" solve the problem, and "that's why I'm so pleased that the foreign ministers have agreed to this direct dialogue, this direct meeting in Miami." The diplomat said that even though the dispute was being sent to the International Court, that body "takes a long time to render its decision and verdict." In what he termed the "meanwhile" -- meaning it could take four to five years before the Court makes a decision -- "there is a risk of conflict" between the two countries. "Even prudence may not be enough to avoid a conflict when there are overlapping claims, which is the situation here," Einaudi said. Einaudi said the exact site in Miami for the talks has yet to be selected, but the "obvious place" would be the Secretariat for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, because it offers the "right kind of symbolism" as a center for efforts to unify the hemisphere. The dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras stems from a disagreement over where to draw the maritime boundary from their border at Cabo Gracias a Dios. Honduras claims it should run due east along the 15th parallel, while Nicaragua claims it should run northeast, following the general line of the land border, up to the 17th parallel. Tensions were further exacerbated between the countries when Nicaragua's president earlier this month announced a "patriotic tax" on imports from Honduras in reprisal for Honduras' signing of a maritime accord with Colombia that recognizes Colombian claims to large areas of the Caribbean that are also claimed by Nicaragua. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)
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