HONDURAS-NICARAGUA: Border Dispute Has Region on Edge

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejía

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 3 1999 (IPS) - Nicaragua accused the Honduran government of mobilising troops in a gesture of intimidation while the two neighbours are embroiled in a tense border dispute, leading Honduras to call off the military’s anti-drug manoeuvres Friday in an area near the border.

Honduran president Carlos Flores ordered the Defence Ministry to halt the operations begun Monday in the northeast, where soldiers, police and investigators were involved in a search for drug- traffickers and perpetrators of forest destruction.

The operation, known as “Jaguar,” took place 135 km from the Nicaraguan border, in the “Platano river biosphere,” which has been declared a Heritage of Humanity site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Honduras had launched the manoeuvres in response to UNESCO warnings that it would repeal the Heritage title because depredation in the area had continued under the authorities’ watch.

But the government decided to end the operations when Nicaragua accused it of mobilising troops along the border just when the two countries are involved in a conflict involving the delineation of maritime borders in the Caribbean.

Honduras also reported that it is considering asking United Nations (UN) and Organisation of American States (OAS) observers to control the border, due to the tension arising from Honduras’s ratification Tuesday of a treaty with Colombia that affects areas claimed by Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea.

Foreign Minister Roberto Flores acknowledged Friday that the government is studying the “possibility” of requesting international observers, but warned that the Nicaraguan army had mobilised troops along the border, according to official reports.

“Yesterday we sent a letter of protest to the Nicaraguan foreign ministry when we found out they had moved their soldiers to the border at Guasaule and La Manos, to our east,” said Flores.

In his judgment, even though the the diplomatic situation between the two countries is not at a “good moment,” it is “neither courteous nor convenient to move troops to the border in a gesture of intimidation.”

“The Nicaraguan foreign office reaffirmed for us (Thursday night) that there is no mobilisation of troops, but we still believe the time has come to request international observers to guarantee border peace,” affirmed the minister.

The OAS sent a letter Thursday in which it salutes the ratification of the maritime accord between Honduras and Colombia, which was finalised Tuesday, announced Flores.

The inter-American organisations sees such agreements as a show of goodwill that permits the countries to advance in their attempts to delineate their borders, according to the Honduran foreign minister.

The OAS letter is “strong diplomatic support for what we Hondurans have done” to “define our borders, respect international law and reaffirm our sovereignty,” stated Flores.

The Honduran parliament ratified the maritime treaty with Colombia on Tuesday, which the Nicaraguans say affects their territorial sovereignty. Since then, Honduras and Nicaragua have been caught up in a diplomatic clash.

The Colombia-Honduras agreement ratifies the sovereignty of Tegucigalpa north of the 15th parallel, in the 82nd meridian. But Nicaragua rejects the accord, arguing that the maritime border should be the 17th parallel.

Managua believes the treaty harms its interests and its sovereignty and alleges that it cuts off 130,000 square km of Nicaragua’s territorial waters. The area encompasses the San Andres archipelago, which has been under Colombian control since 1928, though claimed by Nicaragua.

In 1980, Nicaraguan authorities argued that the country had ceded the area under pressure from the United States, which had occupying forces stationed in Nicaragua in 1928.

The ratification of the treaty between Honduras and Colombia allows both countries to negotiate their maritime borders with other Caribbean nations, while recognising the 15th parallel as its legitimate border, and not the 17th, as Nicaragua demands.

Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Alemán decided Wednesday to break preferential trade relations with Honduras, imposing a “patriotic tax” of 35 percent on Honduran products, treating them as “Colombian” after the two nations “insulted” Nicaragua, he said.

Alemán went even further in his diplomatic insinuations when he announced that Nicaraguan troops are on alert, and that he would not discard a total break in relations with Honduras.

“Now when we take economic measures, it hits them where they hurt. If they respond, we’re going to have to confront it. If its necessary to break off relations, well, we’ll break them,” the Nicaraguan president emphasised.

Honduran minister Flores showed caution with respect to the Nicaraguan president’s statements, and requested Alemán to maintain calm and moderation. “At no time did we consider breaking with Central American integration and head for a bellicose conflict with a sister nation,” said the Honduran foreign minister.

“I am confident that sense will come to president Alemán,” stated Flores, “that is why we insist on the need to bring in international observers and prove that Honduras is not a war-like country and that peace must prevail in Central America.”