ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, Tuesday called for the Caribbean to remain a zone of peace, warning against the impact of the military build-up by the United States ostensibly to deal with drug traffickers in the region.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne addressing the launch of the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference on Tuesday (CMC Photo)“We remain resolute in our call for the Caribbean a zone of peace and this is a call we continue to empasise and reiterate in all forums,” Prime Minister Browne said as he addressed the launch of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference (CHOGM) to be held here November 1-4 next year.
“The reality is, if as a result of the military buildup that we are seeing the southern Caribbean results in any form of conflict…the small island states, particularly the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) countries that will suffer disproportionately and that is because we are so vulnerable”.
Prime Minister Browne told the ceremony attended by Governor General Sir Rodney Williams and the Commonwealth Secretary General, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, that even the fruits consumed in the region are imported from North America.
“If there is any curtailment of shipping or airlift between the Caribbean region and the United States, the impact will be disproportional ” he said, reminding the audience of the impact the Russian war on Ukraine has had on the region, with prices increasing by as much as 10 per cent.
“That was not even in our hemisphere, so just imagine the impact if there should be any form of military action in this hemisphere.
“I will say to our Caribbean people that we must all coalesce and stand against any form of military action in this hemisphere. And I must say to our Caribbean people that we must all coalesce and stand against any form of military action…any form of military intervention.
‘We are not getting involved in any geopolitical spat between any group of countries. We are defending our own national interests and it is not in our national interests for any form of military action to take place within this hemisphere because of dipropionate impact that will take place.”
Browne said that while Antigua and Barbuda is “small and vulnerable, we should not be afraid to stand on the truth and if there are going to be consequences standing on the truth let it be so. But at the end of the day history will absolve us and will remember us as a nation, a non-aligned nation that continues to call for peace, justice, love among humanity and certainly to call out all of the inequities in the global system”.
He said that is the obligations of human beings living on a plant with other people with whom “we are all brothers and sisters…with a common grandmother 250 thousand years ago, notwithstanding the colour of our skin, the texture of our hair”
He said this should be the hallmark of humanity reminding that ‘when you discriminate or undermine any nation, any set of people, you are literally undermining all of humanity and when you take military action against any nation, any group of nations, you are literally undermining all of humanity and we should not be afraid to stand for peace and justice”.
In recent weeks, the United States military has been bombing vessels in the international waters claiming that the occupants were drug traffickers without offering any evidence of such activity.
The United Nations UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also strongly condemned the airstrikes carried out by the United States against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Volker Türk said in a statement that the strikes “violate international human rights law”, demanding that they be stopped immediately.
Last month, the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that regional leaders had discussed several issues on the regional agenda, including the security build-up in parts of the Caribbean and its potential impact on member states.
It said that the position at that meeting was not endorsed by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
Prime Minister Browne said that the CHOGM, which will be held under the theme “Accelerating Partnerships and Investments for a Prosperous Commonwealth,” next year will be a “transformative one” and should not be an event with commitments and declarations “that are shelved.
‘We will make sure that all of the commitments are implemented,” he said, making reference t issues such as reparation and climate change financing.
“Our efforts here in Antigua and the Commonwealth must be redoubled to develop those partnerships that can unlock financing for development and build resilience for small and other vulnerable states.
He said he believes the challenge is not one of resources in the world, but one of political will and prioritising what matters most to people.
“Even as we seek to turbo charge these areas of interest we have an obligation as a family of nations not to be afraid or be ashamed but to engage in difficult and sensitive conversations,” he said, noting that the issue of reparation for the salve trade will be one of those sensitive areas.
“Our position is that we will not use the issue of reparation to shame any nation, but we should be able to have very honest discussions about the issue of reparations and to establish a framework in which we can discuss this issue honestly and to resolve…and ultimately to put the issue behind us, recognising that certain atrocities were committed and there is need for the current generation to right the wrongs that were actually committed against our forebearers”.
