Grenada yet to decide on US radar at Maurice Bishop Airport
Grenada’s Government has not yet decided if it will allow a US radar system at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA), since technical assessment is still ongoing.
That was the word yesterday from Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, who said the US had indicated they wanted a response by a particular time, but Grenada hasn’t been able to provide that.
Mitchell also stressed, “It’s important for me to say that as Prime Minister of the country, we would not enter into any agreement which, from a Grenada perspective, has any possibility of violating Grenadian domestic law or violating international law.”
Mitchell gave an update on the situation yesterday at a sitting of Grenada’s Parliament.
This followed the US Southern Command’s request in October for Mitchell’s Government to temporarily install radar equipment and associated technical personnel at the MBIA.
Grenada later stated it was carefully assessing and reviewing the request through technical consultations with the Grenada Airports Authority and other relevant agencies. Any decision would be made only after all assessments were concluded, it was stated.
Grenada was among Caribbean countries expressing concern about the US military build-up in the region, and Mitchell had told the United Nations General Assembly the region must remain a Zone of Peace.
Yesterday, Mitchell, noting heated public debate on the radar request, explained Grenada has ongoing security cooperation and arrangements with the US and Grenada’s regional partners on almost all aspects of law enforcement matters, including combatting the drug trade and narcotic trafficking. He said that also sometimes included the US Southern Command, therefore cooperation with the US is an ongoing and permanent issue.
Mitchell said the request to install the radar is part of the broader request for security cooperation. Some of this, he added, Grenada has already agreed to, but cannot disclose in order to prevent criminals from getting information.
Mitchell said the ongoing debate on the radar is a clear indication of the fact his Government is fully aware that, because of the nature of the request, “…that it could not proceed to make a definitive ‘yes’ for the very reasons seen playing out in public.”
“Radar would disrupt airport operations”
He said Grenada’s Government appreciated that the MBIA, by the significance of its history to the public, evokes a lot of emotive reactions.
Noting the MBIA is a civilian airport, Mitchell said it is therefore not fit to treat with military-type operations.
“Also, any installing of the radar would obviously disrupt the MBIA’s operations, and we’d need technical advice on whether or not it was feasible or advisable to do so.”
