BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC):

Prime Minister Said Musa says he believes the decades-old territorial dispute with Guatemala will not be resolved by negotiations and wants the matter dealt with by an independent international tribunal.

Both countries have been utilising the services of the Organisation of American States (OAS) to resolve the dispute that started with Guatemala's claim more than a hundred years ago.

In September 2002, specially appointed negotiators, Sir Shridath Ramphal, the former Commonwealth Secretary General, who is representing Belize, and Paul Reichler for Guatemala, presented their proposals, but that document was later shelved indefinitely.

Time for a new strategy

Speaking on television over the weekend, Prime Minister Musa said the time has come for a new strategy in order to deal with the situation.

"I believe that all parties now recognise that the claim to our land and our islands will never be resolved by negotiation, and that the only way of ever putting an end to the claim is by means of an independent international tribunal determining the matter in accordance with international law.

"Clearly the process leading to a submission to such a tribunal will take some time. We have still to agree what the questions will be and how the case will be dealt with," he said.

Musa said it means that both parties would have to agree to go either to the International Court of Justice which is in the Hague in Europe or some other international arbitration body.

"We would have to settle on that issue, but there seems to be a growing agreement on both sides that this is the only way that the matter can be resolved. I am hoping that this year with the assistance of the OAS Secretary General we will reach that point where we can both agree on that."