Tonight, the world is facing the reality that an era of relative calm in the West that has prevailed since the end of the Cold War might be coming to a close as Russia overtakes Ukraine.
For many of us here in Belize - it may seem remote because Ukraine is, like, 7 thousand miles from Belize. But flashback several decades when Belize found itself in a similar situation, our sovereignty threatened by a much bigger neighbor with revanchist ambitions.
That may seem like ancient history but in a world where the sovereignty of a country, any country, can be threatened there is also an overarching threat to global security. It's the reason that Belize has condemned Russia's actions in the strongest of terms and that strong stance is one that visiting EU Ambassador Marianne Van Steen is grateful for. Late this evening she told Cherisse Halsall about this week's discussions with Belize's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Marianne Van Steen - EU Ambassador Accredited to Belize
"I am very honored that both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, every time I come to Belize receive me and we have very open transparent and constructive discussions. So indeed, this week was the same, I've had a very long and interesting meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and also with the Prime Minister, I cannot go into details but all the points we discussed, it was very constructive. It was not only about the fact that we need to agree and sit together and think about how European Union can continue to assist the country facing a number of challenges which we share but it was also about outing my appreciation regarding the outward looking position that Belize is taking and when I say outward looking, I was referring to a couple of week's ago I was reaching out the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the situation in the Ukraine. I got a very constructive response and only a couple of days later I saw a very strong statement of the CARICOM countries supporting the International rules based order and responding to the concerns that we have been discussing. I know of course that Belize is not CARICOM but I do know that Belize is a permanent residency of CARICOM, so I'm quite convinced that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had something to do with that and I think today it has proven again that the ministry has been extremely responsive to this big crisis which is unfolding in Europe and I feel that shows that we're not just donors from far away but we are genuine partners and that we do need each other."
Cherisse Halsall
"Ms. Van Steen if you could briefly, give us a bit of the EUs position on the beginning of an invasion that has taken place in Ukraine."
Marianne Van Steen
"It was quite a shock to wake up this morning, I have to admit after weeks and weeks of very many diplomatic Union from the leaders of its member state's and from many actors, we had to come to see this morning what happened in Europe, we think that this invasion by Russia was unprovoked, unjustified and is a flagrant violation of the International rules based order, we've very sad about that and we do think this is a threat not just for all the people in the Ukraine but for the entire European union, for all the member states and I would like to go a little bit further, for the entire global community, this is not about an incident in one country far away from Belize, this is about an incident that can have a huge impact on the entire world order. From the minute that we do not respect anymore the sovereignty of a country and we let one country invade another one without reacting to that, we're going far away from the peace project that we have been building after the second world war, not just the European union, I mean the EU is a peace project but what we've been building with the United Nations after the second world war. If today, we don't act all together, it's in danger."
Cherisse Halsall
"It's beginning to be a humanitarian crisis, we've seen people explain on the international media that in less than 24 hours their entire world has changed. Historically, Belize has face similar threats from Guatemala. What would you say to the Belizean people about sharing the sentiments of the people of Ukraine at this point in the loss of sovereignty and the confusion around something like that."
Marianne Van Steen
"We can simply not accept what has happened last night and I think the entire international community, citizens and governments, we have to react and we have to make a point and this not acceptable anymore in the 21st century and I think that is a call that we are doing to all the countries, all the partner countries in the world. I mean, I am accredited as ambassador to Belize but I'm also accredited as ambassador to Jamaica and to the Bahamas and I've been in contact with all the ministers of foreign affairs and my colleagues are doing exactly the same and we're trying to call upon every single country to react this and to not accept this."
Ambassador Van Steen has just completed a tour in Belize in which she took part in the launching of several EU projects including the inauguration of the New Roaring Creek Bridge, inauguration of the Evapo-transpiration station at Central Farm, and BEL's new $11 million dollar mini-grid system for unserved villages in rural Belize.
