Aggression by the Surinamese must not be tolerated

Oct 19, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The latest aggressive and confrontational move by the Surinamese authorities towards Guyanese, in our own territorial waters, cannot be tolerated.

The Suriname Government must know that Guyanese, while we are a peaceful people, are not prepared to stand idly by and allow them to try to strip us of our dignity and respect as a people.

They should be reminded that we have been in this position before in the 1980’s with Venezuela and as mighty as our opponent seemed, then, Guyana prevailed.

So as civilized neighbours we should be able to settle this matter of unwarranted intrusion in an amicable fashion.

It was expected that with the September 2007 ruling, by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, that all disputes between Guyana and Suriname, regarding this disputed area, would have been settled and that the people of the two nations come to experience the true meaning of peaceful co-existence.

However, this latest act by Suriname indicates that the matter might not be finally settled. I therefore, call on our obvious first responder, CARICOM and its Secretariat, to intervene swiftly to bring this matter under control. Counter aggression cannot, and should not be our first act of response.

However, Guyana has demonstrated tremendous restraint with Suriname during the last few years, but as a people we are tired of these sporadic attacks and hope that the Suriname Government rethink its actions.

The President and Government of Guyana should, in the interim, aggressively pursue all efforts to mobilise all necessary assistance to preserve the sovereignty of our nation.

Suriname must know that the people and Government of Guyana will not be intimidated by their confrontational and unwarranted acts.

I urge President Jagdeo to draw from the experience and leadership of the Late President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, and apply those aspects of his strategy which served well in the time of dealing with the Venezuelan aggression.

I believe that the PNCR can aid in providing tremendous guidance in this current dilemma. I applaud their unreserved position in this matter and urged all Guyanese to rally, together, for the common cause of defending our sovereignty.

In the time of Venezuela we sang “we ain’t giving up no mountain; we ain’t giving up no tree; we ain’t giving up no river that belong to we; not one blue sackie; not one rice grain; not one curass not a blade ah Grass”.

Today, Suriname must know that we are even more patriotic and resolute in the cause of defending our nation despite the lyrics of the song may change the latent meaning remains in tact. “We ain’t giving up ah a drop of water, that belong to we”.
Lurlene Nestor

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Aggression by the Surinamese must not be tolerated

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