Alba slams British threats over Assange extradition / World / Britain/World / Home - Morning Star
World

Alba slams British threats over Assange extradition

Sunday 19 August 2012
by Our Foreign Desk
Printable page Printable
Email Email

Ecuador received powerful backing from regional allies at the weekend as they warned Britain of "grave consequences" if it breached diplomatic security at Ecuador's embassy in London.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is holed up in the South American nation's London embassy after it granted him asylum on Thursday.

Britain has said it won't grant him safe passage out of the country.

But Ecuador's allies from the progressive Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America (Alba), whose foreign ministers flew to the Ecuadorian economic capital yesterday, gave full diplomatic support to the country's embattled diplomats.

"We warn the government of the United Kingdom that it will face grave consequences around the world if it directly breaches the territorial integrity of the embassy of the Republic of Ecuador in London," the meeting's agreed statement declared.

The statement, read by Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, also rejected Britain's "threats vis-a-vis our territorial integrity and sovereignty."

The regional group, which also includes Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and a number of smaller Caribbean nations, expressed its "categorical support for Ecuador's sovereign right" to grant asylum to Mr Assange and urged other world nations to reject what it called "Britain's attempts to impose its will by force."

Alba nations also called on the UN to discuss the issue of inviolability of diplomatic installations around the world.

Britain has angered Ecuador by suggesting it could invoke the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act of 1987, which it says allows it to revoke the diplomatic immunity of an embassy on British soil and go in to arrest Mr Assange.

Earlier yesterday, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa went on the offensive as he slammed what he called Britain's "vulgar threats" to remove Mr Assange from the embassy.

"Never, as long as I am president, will Ecuador accept threats like these, which are absolutely vulgar, inconsiderate and intolerable," Mr Correa said in a weekly statement.

"We will not give up our sovereignty. We respect everyone, and we are always seeking dialogue, but the final decision is ours."

If you appreciated this article then please consider donating to the Morning Star's Fighting Fund to ensure we can keep developing your paper.

Donate to the Fighting Fund here

Bookmark and Share

Editorial

Exploit Tory woes, Labour

Lord Feldman says that he didn't call grassroots Tories "mad swivel-eyed loons" while his accusers stand by their stories that he did.

Features

Let's get Britain back on track

by Mick Whelan

As Aslef's annual assembly of delegates begins in Edinburgh tomorrow the general secretary explains the challenges his members - and workers across the country - face

The vicious cycle of eurozone decline

by Tom Gill

France is the latest to face clamour from the EU to enforce crippling 'structural reforms.' The medicine is killing the patient