A leading regional academic on Tuesday called on Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries to adopt a common position as it regards the ongoing situation in Syria.
Professor of social and political change at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Brian Meeks, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that his advice to regional governments is that “they should do it together, they should consult each other (and) they should act multilaterally through their respective organisations, in particular, the Caribbean Community and whatever decisions are made, should be made on that foundation”.
He said his own view is that Caribbean countries should stick close to the United Nations and the positions taken by the United Nations.
“We should look after our own business, but we should also strongly oppose positions that encourage the notion of a warring policeman with arbitrary powers.
“What if you get it wrong as in the case of Iraq not very long ago in which there was supposed weapons of mass destruction which were nonexistent? That is the danger and I think our governments should consider this and act together.”
On Monday, the St Vincent and the Grenadines government said it was “alarmed” at the recent allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and remained “deeply concerned” with the spiralling humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.
On Saturday last, Guyana and Venezuela urged restraint on any impending military strike on Syria. President Donald Ramotar told a joint news conference with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro that the UN experts should be allowed to complete their scientific analysis.
“No action should be taken without the rati
