Belize will seek approval from its citizens on whether to press ahead with a legal battle in the border dispute with Guatemala.

The referendum will be held by March 2009 according to Belize Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington.

"We are just now at this point in time trying to settle on exactly what is the question we will be asking of the Belize people and exactly what is the question that we'll be asking of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)," Elrington said.

"The hope is that they will be able to have the referendum by the first quarter of next year.

Resolution

Elrington said the referendum could only be held after the Belize and Guatemalan Parliaments pass the necessary resolution giving approval for it.

"Once that is done then we are going to have a referendum for the people again in general, not only for their representatives, but for the people in general to say whether or not we should proceed with the process."

Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Jose Miguel Insulza said he supports the efforts by Guatemala and Belize to settle their land dispute through the ICJ in The Hague.

Negotiations

The OAS is the regional body under which the negotiations have been conducted and it maintains a presence at the border with Guatemala where it is responsible for promoting confidence-building measures.

Insulza, who ended a two-day visit to Belize on the weekend, met with government and opposition officials, told reporters that his advice to both countries was to solve the dispute at the ICJ.

"The reason for this is that it is the court that is probably most prestigious in the world and probably gives more royalties to all countries that go to it. Both Belize and Guatemala have signed a statute," he said.

"The first thing that had to be done was for the politicians to accept the recommendation and they did."

The next step is the referendum to finalise the terms under which they will approach the ICJ.