Hurricane Mitch Upsets Commonwealth Meeting
6 November 1998
A meeting of Commonwealth Senior Officials, which was scheduled to be held in Belize next week, will now be held in London because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch. Belize is one of several Central American countries struck by the hurricane.
The Commonwealth Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) is held every two years, primarily to review progress in implementing mandates provided by Commonwealth Heads of Government at their previous summit. The SOM takes place between the biennial summits of Commonwealth leaders. The last summit was held in Edinburgh in October last year and the next will be in South Africa in November 1999.
Following the serious dislocation caused by the hurricane, the Belize Government advised the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, that it would no longer be able to host the meeting in Belize City, where the meeting was scheduled to take place from 9 to 11 November. The city had been badly affected by the flooding and strong winds; hotels were forced to close, flights cancelled and basic services disrupted.
Chief Anyaoku said: "It is entirely understandable that the preoccupations of the Belize authorities will, for the immediate future, be centred on providing relief and rehabilitation to their affected citizens. I am sorry that, after having made strenuous preparations for the meeting, the Belize Government will not be able to host it after all, although I am pleased that Belize will continue to provide the Chairman for the meeting, Mr David Gibson, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, I know that all member countries will understand the circumstances which have necessitated the change in venue. Our sympathies go to the Government and people of Belize, as indeed to those in other countries in Central America, who are facing the full effects of this terrible tragedy."
The devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch highlights the particular vulnerability of small countries, such as those of Central America, to such events. This has for some time been a key concern of the Commonwealth and will be one of the issues to be considered at the Senior Officials Meeting.
The meeting has now been convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat at Lancaster House in London, with the generous assistance of the British Government who have provided the venue at short notice. Officials from the 54 Commonwealth countries will be discussing the whole range of Commonwealth activities. They will also consider the format of the next Heads of Government Meeting as well as ways of sharpening the Commonwealth's public image.
98/79 6 November 1998
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- Commonwealth ICT SummitBetty Mould Iddrisu, Director, Legal and Constitutional Affairs
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