The Dutch Caribbean island of Saba is breaking off relations with other Netherlands Antilles islands, accusing them of frustrating the decolonisation process, Saba Deputy Chris Johnson told Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

The group of six former Dutch colonies in the Antilles together formed an independent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1954, when a new Statute of the Realm created a kind of commonwealth structure to replace the historic colonial relationship. The last vestiges of the colonial system were scrapped in 1975, when the Antilles got their own government. In 1985, Aruba gained a special status (status aparte), effectively becoming an independent country within the kingdom. The Statute officially ended in 2004 and ever since, the Netherlands and the six islands have been working towards a new constitutional set-up.

Elections
The island of Saba, together with St Eustatius and Bonaire have opted to become Dutch extraterritorial municipalities in 2010, acquiring the same status as towns and cities in the Netherlands. Aruba, St Maarten and Curaçao are to become independent countries within the Kingdom, on an equal footing with the Netherlands.

The Saba island government, of which Johnson is a member, claims that Curaçao is dragging its feet by insisting on elections for the joint parliament of the six islands, even though that parliament will only be in existence for another couple of months. Deputy Johnson said it appeared that Curaçao is not all that eager to dismantle the Antilles group by October 2010.
 

Request for guarantee
In a letter to Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, the Saba government says it intends to secede from the Antilles, in order to speed up Saba's move towards its new status as a Dutch municipality.

Deputy Chris Johnson says,

"We realise that from Saba we are not ultimately going to be able to achieve this overnight. It is not something that you can just say, OK it's done, it's complete. But what we intend for is to have some ultimate guarantees. That is why we're addressing the letter of intent to secede to Prime Minister Balkenende. We hope to garner his help in this situation."

The letter is meant as a request for a guarantee that the transition will become effective in October 2010, as agreed. In a referendum in 2004, no less than 86 percent of Sabans voted for a direct relationship with the Netherlands.

The request will be presented to the Dutch Commissioner for the governmental transition, Henk Kamp, on Tuesday.

Listen: Saba Deputy Chris Johnson explains his island's position
(interview: René Roodheuvel)