NEWS DIRECT: WEDNESDAY, 25 JUNE 2003
JOHN BIRMINGHAM RETURNS FROM C-24:
Cllr. John Birmingham (JB) as returned from the C-24 meeting at the UN in New York. He talked about the main items relating to the Falklands that were up for discussion.
JB: Cllr. Mike Summers and myself were up there a week last Monday and for two or three days before the actual meeting, we were going around meeting and lobbying various countries who sit on C-24, such as the Russian delegate and delegates from Granada, St. Lucia and such. We took some of these people out to lunch. The Chairman is from St. Lucia. All of them are very sympathetic to our point of view.
When it came to the meeting on the Monday, which would have been the 23rd, both Mike and myself read out our speeches and then the Argentines had two people. One was a chap called Lewis, whose first name escapes me. His family had been here in the late 40s, early 50s. His father had been the manager of Douglas Station. He says he still has a couple of relatives on a couple of the Islands on the West. That, I don’t know. But the other one was Alexander Betts, who has been there a few times before. I have met him there before.
They then gave their speeches. The Argentine contingent, we counted up and think there were 37 of them. With the chap from the British Mission in New York, there were three of us. We were slightly outnumbered but we think we gave a good account of ourselves. The main things, I would imagine, is that the Argentine delegates spoke only about the land, as did their diplomats, as did the diplomats from various Latin American countries. It was a land issue.
Our speeches had to do with people. I think that’s probably the biggest difference. At the end of the session, there wasn’t a vote. The general opinion was that both parties should get together and discuss the sovereignty of the Islands, which is what we were expecting. But at the end, people were speaking about the Islanders -–about our right to decide our own future and that seems to be a bit of an on-going flow now. There are more and more delegates questioning why the Argentines don’t accept that we actually have a say in this. And, so from our point of view, I would say it was quite a success.
CG: I take it perseverance and going along to these meetings really does make a difference.
JB: There is absolutely no way that the Falklands should not send somebody to the Committee of 24. If you think that the Argentines had 37 members of their delegation – everybody from people who work in New York at the UN through to people they brought up from Buenos Aires, including their new Foreign Minister, that just shows how seriously they take it. We would really be daft and irresponsible not to send somebody to that.
CG: You met the new (Argentine) Foreign Minister, didn’t you? Did you get a chance to speak to him?
JB: Yes. Mr. Bielsa was very friendly as far as friendly could go. He didn’t speak English very well but he understands English, apparently. We had a brief chat with him and touched on subjects such as the possibility of working together more in the South West Atlantic on Fisheries matters. And, of course, there’s the Continental Shelf issue and, not least, future oil exploration. All of which, I might add, he seemed to be aware of. So, we will have to wait and see what comes from that.
AWG SIGN SOUTH GEORGIA CONTRACT:
AWG, formerly Morrisons Construction (Falklands) Limited, have signed the contract to begin asbestos clear-up work at the whaling station at Grytviken in South Georgia. An accommodation camp in kit form is being made in Chile. Besides asbestos, the company say they will be cleaning up oil left in the tanks from whaling station days.
COURT NEWS:
This morning in Court Paul Phillips was fined a total of £500.00 after he pleaded guilty to two offences. These were waiting on Ross Road while a trial Clearway was on and for allowing Christopher Ford to drive a vehicle without insurance. Rory Gilcrest, for the defence, told the Court that his client runs a building business and recently had three containers which were in the process of being sorted out. He said that his client had returned home a couple of times on the day in question to drop off some items to his storage shed, and had parked outside his property for about 15 minutes. He said two officers passed by and he exchanged pleasantries with them. Later on in the day, he had finished work earlier than usual and had parked the vehicle outside, feeling the Clearway closed at 1700 and he was reluctant to drive around for 20 minutes. This lead to him being reported for a breach and, in his frustration, he had arranged for 5 of his vehicles to be parked outside the bank. One of these was a JCB, which was too heavy to be parked in a public place and so he was asked to move it. He did this but in its place, the Dumper was driven in by one of his employees. This had been registered a short time before and was supposed to have been insured but the Court was told that the defendant’s wife had forgotten. The parking was a protest towards the Clearway, which the defendant said had affected his business on Ross Road dramatically. Sr. Magistrate, Nick Sanders, fined the defendant £80.00 for the offence of parking on the Clearway, saying he was sure there were those in Stanley who sympathised with his position but that he should have stayed within the law when making his point. For the insurance matter, the Senior Magistrate told Mr. Philips that it was his responsibility as an employer to make sure his employees are insured.
Derek MacDonnald had his case adjourned this morning after he pleaded not guilty to the charge of driving without due care and attention. This will give the defendant a chance to seek legal advice. He will re-appear in Court next Wednesday at 0900.
DARTS:
The darts season is well underway now and the leader board has changed slightly. Monday night’s games for the Eurofighters and the Tornadoes thrashed their opponents 15 – 0. There were also a couple of close matches of scores of 8 – 7. But Tornadoes still lead the way with 26 Points. They are followed by Otto’s Outlaws with 23 and just one point behind them are the Eurofighters. At the other end of the table are the Westenders with only 4 points with the Highbury Babes just above them on 5. Colin Smith still leads the Men’s Back Of The Card Totals with 84 and Julie Clarke leads the Ladies with 33.
ISLAND GAMES:
There are only a few days left before the Island Games opening ceremony takes place in Guernsey. This is being held in St. Peter Port Harbour on Saturday evening at 1900. On Sunday, events will start on the shooting range, at the badminton court and on the track.
FIDF MARK AT BISLEY:
Yesterday the FIDF started in their quest to make their mark at Bisley. The competition is going on until the end of next week when we see them taking part in Team Shoots as well as individually.
(100X Transcription Service)
