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World court sinks Bolivia bid for sea access via Chile
THE HAGUE, Oct 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The International Court of Justice on
Monday rejected a bid by landlocked Bolivia to force Chile to the negotiating
table for access to the Pacific Ocean in a row dating back to the 19th
century.
Bolivia lost its route to the sea in a 1879-1883 war with Chile, and
Santiago has rejected every attempt since then by its smaller and poorer
neighbour to win it back.
La Paz took Santiago to the top UN court in The Hague in 2013 over its bid
to regain access to the sea, a long-running strain on relations between the
two South American countries.
But the ICJ’s judges ruled that Chile had no case to answer.
“The court by 12 votes to three finds that the Republic of Chile did not
undertake a legal obligation to negotiate a sovereign access for the… state
of Bolivia,” judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said at the end of a judgment that
took an hour and 20 minutes to read out.
Yusuf said, however, he hoped that “with willingness on the part of both
parties meaningful negotiations can be undertaken.”
Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales — who is trying to win political
capital at home through the issue as he seeks a fourth term in office —
attended the court in person for the verdict.
A small crowd of Bolivian protesters waving flags and playing traditional
pan pipes also gathered outside the Peace Palace ahead of the verdict.
– ‘High stakes’ –
The ICJ was set up after World War II to rule in disputes between UN member
states. The court’s findings are binding and cannot be appealed, although it
has no real power to enforce them.
Chile and Bolivia have had no diplomatic relations since 1978 when
Bolivia’s last attempt to negotiate a passage to the Pacific broke down in
acrimony.
Geoff Gordon, an analyst at the Hague-based Asser Institute, said there
were “high stakes for Bolivia and Chile”.
The War of the Pacific pitted Bolivia and Peru on one side against Chile on
the other, and saw battles fought in the Pacific Ocean, the Andes mountains
and even in the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world.
Decades of post-independence border tensions in South America were finally
ignited by a dispute over Bolivian attempts to tax a Chilean company mining
saltpetre, a mineral used in fertilizer that was at the time replacing the
traditional use of guano, the excrement of seabirds and bats.
Bolivia says regaining the 400 kilometres (260 miles) of coastline along
the northern tip of Chile that it lost in the war would stimulate growth and
development in South America’s poorest country.
Morales has also weaponised the dispute to boost his popularity at home
where the importance of the issue is underscored by the fact that Bolivia
still has a navy despite lack of access to the sea.
– ‘Sovereign territory’ –
Bolivia’s lawyers have argued that it has tried several times over the last
century to discuss possible access to the Pacific, but to no avail.
Bolivian activists said the loss of the Chuquicamata mine, the world’s
largest open-pit copper mine which is situated in the disputed area, has also
badly hit the country’s indigenous peoples.
These attempts were continuously slapped down by the Chileans, La Paz’s
lawyers said, leading to the breakdown in diplomatic relations.
Santiago, in turn, said the border is based on a 1904 peace treaty signed
with Bolivia in the wake of the War of the Pacific and therefore must be
respected.
Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero said last week his country will
not negotiate with Bolivia over the issue as “our sovereign territory is
protected and will not be a part in anyone’s negotiations”.
Chile added that Bolivia currently enjoyed “full and unrestricted rights of
commercial transit between its territory” and the Pacific ports.
But President Sebastian Pinera has not ruled out an “intermediate solution”
in which the ICJ “invites parties to negotiate in good faith which may be
with or without a predetermined result”.
Meanwhile, Chile has opened its own case against Bolivia over the Silala
waterway, which flows into the Atacama desert and which La Paz has threatened
to divert.
BSS/AFP/MRI/2051 HRS