The Guyana government has not kept its promise to ratify the Rome Statute to give effect to the International Criminal Court (ICC) before signing a bilateral agreement with the US not to surrender or transfer to the court any US citizen without the consent of the US.

This is the view of PNCR shadow minister for foreign affairs, Clarissa Riehl who says Jagdeo "has gone against his own promise. He has broken ranks with leading members of Caricom which does not augur well for the unity of Caricom." She adds, however, that unlike agreements on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), Caricom is still not united on matters of foreign policy.

Noting that Jagdeo declared he needed the military aid, Riehl says it is unfortunate that the government should sell the soul of the nation for any money.

She understands the power of the United States but asked why "we can't uphold our own sovereignty with our Big Brother up north?" She suggests that whatever the US wants from its neighbours it extracts, such as the Shiprider agreement, and reiterates that as president, Jagdeo should have kept his word in ratifying the treaty before signing the immunity agreement.

A release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued yesterday, two days after the signing of the agreement, said both the Rome Statute of the ICC and the bilateral immunity agreement would be laid in parliament shortly.

The release said that under the terms of the bilateral agreement, persons from the United States of America present in the territory of Guyana, and accused of committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC will not be transferred or surrendered to the court unless the consent of the United States is obtained.

The agreement recognises that the jurisdiction of the ICC is complementary to and does not supplant national criminal jurisdiction and therefore declares that the parties would investigate and where appropriate prosecute acts within the jurisdiction of the ICC.

The US is concerned that the court could be the vehicle for spurious cases being brought against its military personnel.

It has been argued internationally that to enter into a bilateral immunity agreement with the US would undermine the independence and legitimacy of the court given that its jurisdiction is meant to cover any national from any country.

The signing of the agreement, between the Minister of Foreign Affairs Rudy Insanally and the US Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Rademaker took place on Thursday, in the absence of the local media.

When asked by the local media at a press conference on Thursday about the purpose of Rademaker's visit, Jagdeo gave no hint that the agreement had already been signed.

Instead he said he and Rademaker had held general discussions on US/Guyana relations. He said they spoke about the meeting the Caricom leaders had with President Bush and his promise to send someone from the Department of Homeland Security to Guyana. Jagdeo said he had pointed out to Rademaker that it would be good if "we find a way of sharing information and intelligence on criminals and maybe deportees, etc. Not just the US and Guyana but the US and Caricom."

The ratification of the Rome Statute contradicts President Jagdeo's announcement to the media on July 17 that the government had intended to sign the agreement with the US once "we ratify" the Rome Statute.

In July, Jagdeo had said that the government had not ratified the statute because of "a national interest consideration." He had said that he needed the military co-operation with the US to continue.

The ministry's release said that government's intention to ratify the Rome Statute would be in keeping with the decision of the Caricom Heads of Government taken in Montego Bay, Jamaica in July.

The issue of Caricom states ratifying the agreement was a hot topic at the Jamaican summit. Most Caricom countries have signed on to the ICC but only some have ratified it. As the leaders were discussing the issue at Montego Bay, the US announced that it was cutting off military aid to 35 countries including six Caricom countries, which had already ratified the treaty.

Antigua and Barbuda and Belize were among those six, but they have since signed bilateral agreements with the US. The others to which aid was cut are Barbados, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad ad Tobago.