Carrington, at a news conference in Georgetown Friday, said this imposition "is not quite within the spirit of the community" for Anguilla to impose visa requirements for other community nationals to enter its country. He pointed out that in this case, Anguilla has imposed visa requirements on not one but two CARICOM member states - Guyana and Jamaica.

He noted that, at the request of the Community, he visited Anguilla where he met with the Chief Minister, Mr. Osborne Fleming, and had discussions on the matter. According to him, Anguilla has agreed to meet with the Governments of Guyana and Jamaica to see how best the situation can be resolved.

Carrington said too, that this matter will be one of the agenda items of the Bureau meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government to be held in Barbados tomorrow and which will be Chaired by President Bharrat Jagdeo. (See other story on page three)

The CARICOM Secretary General said Monday's meeting will also be looking at the whole question of Associate Membership status for countries within the region, referring to countries such as Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

Carrington noted that in Anguilla, he met with the administration there to ascertain what exactly was the problem which warranted imposing a visa requirement on Guyana and Jamaica. Concerns were raised as to whether such a move was the most suitable way to deal with whatever problem there was, he said.

He noted that Anguilla has suffered a severe economic downturn and the country felt "that a significant number of Guyanese and Jamaicans were not only [going to Anguilla, but staying beyond their period of immigration". According to him, the authorities have pointed out to him that from Anguilla, there is an easy access to St. Maarten - where the borders are very free.

He said the Anguillan authorities have complained that a number of Guyanese and Jamaicans, upon entering the country, "have disappeared, perhaps via St. Maarten, to other places" and "they felt that the way to curb this difficulty was by way of a visa requirement".

"I visited Anguilla, as I was requested to do by the Community. I met with the Governor, the Chief Minister and members of his Cabinet, and we discussed the matter. The problem as they see it - and they admitted that the country is currently facing a severe economic downturn - and they have found that a significant or increasing number of Guyanese and Jamaicans have not only been coming, but staying beyond the period which they were allowed in the first place by the immigration authorities," Carrington stated.

He, however, said CARICOM "felt that first of all (the visa requirement) might be using a sledge-hammer which is too high and which might be too heavy an instrument"...

He said he recommended that perhaps if there were discussions with the Governments of Guyana and Jamaica and the Government of Anguilla, and the CARICOM Secretariat, then they might be able to come up with a mechanism which will in time remove the nature of the present instrument. He said this might also allow Anguilla to achieve "the control and the surveillance" which they seem to be lacking with regards immigration.

"We have therefore proposed, and they have agreed" to have a meeting with Jamaica, Guyana, Anguilla and the Secretariat, to "possibly see if we can resolve this matter in a community manner"

He noted that when the visa requirement was imposed, the Anguillan administration said it was a "temporary" measure.

"Now how short is temporary, I have not been so advised, but the fact that it was temporary means that there was an intention to remove it at some point in time. So that supports a possibility that we may be able to remove it without too long a delay. But that's just a possibility," Carrington said.

Carrington also admitted that the Chief Minister of Anguilla made it quite clear that there have been no problems of a criminal nature with those nationals from Guyana or Jamaica. He said the Anguillan administration stressed this point because "it is quick to think that the Guyanese or Jamaicans might have caused some criminal activities or disruptions" in Anguilla, but "that's not the case."

Guyana's Foreign Minister, Mr. Rudy Insanally, in a brief comment to this newspaper, noted that this action by Anguilla goes against the spirit of the Treaty of CARICOM. He said this issue is one that has to do with the free movement of Caribbean nationals within the region.

"We will be looking closely at this situation to see if we can improve our cooperation with Anguilla in this area. I met with an Anguillan Minister at a recent COHSOD meeting, and, at the bilateral level, we are working towards dealing with the issue and resolving it in the most amicable way," Insanally said.