Greenland sees UN settling Canada dispute

[struggle4progress]

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The United Nations could be asked to settle a dispute between Canada and Denmark over who owns a tiny island off Greenland, which some suspect is sitting on top of rich natural resources, Greenland's foreign minister said on Friday.

Canada and Denmark are holding talks in a bid to sort out a protracted dispute over who owns the 1.3 square km (half a square mile) Hans Island, located between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland, which belongs to Denmark.

Josef Motzfeldt -- who serves as both finance and foreign minister for Greenland's home rule government -- said the two sides were likely to order a scientific survey of the area to help decide who the island belonged to.

"The scientists will tell us Hans Island belongs to Greenland. If the Canadians don't agree with that decision, then we have to add a third institution, like the United Nations, to make the decision," he told Reuters in an interview. <snip>

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-04-28T210138Z_01_N28178784_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-GREENLAND-COL.XML&archived=False