Guyana has nothing to fear from Suriname

Jun 12, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

The statements attributed to the President of Suriname, Desi Bouterse, in relation to the New River Trinagle, should not be a source of concern to Guyana.
These statements are not unusual and must be assessed in relation to the existing state of ties between Guyana and Suriname.
No one should expect the President of Suriname to dodge a question about the New River area over which Suriname has a claim.
The President of Guyana also has to deal with the issue and if he says within his country’s parliament that Guyana retains it claim on land which Guyana considers Guyanese territory, this is not unexpected. What else can he say?
He surely cannot be expected to renounce the claim unless he is planning to commit political suicide. Which President of Suriname is going to renounce that claim and still hold office the next day? None.
The statements made by the President of Suriname in relation to the New River Triangle are not indicative of a new stage of belligerence on the part of Suriname. It does not also indicate deterioration in relations between the two nations.
If anything, relations between Guyana and Suriname are at a new level, with a commitment on both sides to not allow any controversy over the New River area to be an impediment to deepening ties between the two countries. In fact, work is advancing on closer integration between Guyana and Suriname, and a bridge is likely to be built linking the two countries.
There are persons in Guyana who always seem to get excited whenever any statement related to the New River area is mentioned.
This becomes, for these individuals, an opportunity to engage in their favourite pastime of stirring fears within the society of imminent aggression from Suriname
They have done the same in the past with Venezuela, trying to halt the improvement in relations between Guyana and that country by calling attention to the possibility that Venezuela is yet to renounce its territorial claim.
Venezuela’s claim to two-thirds of Guyana and Suriname’s claim to the New River Triangle are not going to be renounced easily. It is politically suicidal to do so.
However there are forces within Guyana who feel that any statement by foreign governments or their officials, relating to these claims, constitutes a threat to Guyana.
One can therefore expect within the next few weeks, a great deal of penmanship on the statements purportedly made by the President of Suriname.
Behind this reaction also is the thinking – not without some merit- that the government of Guyana is not experienced enough or intellectually endowed enough to diplomatically defend the country’s territorial interests.
And so criticisms are bound to come from sources whose aim it is to antagonize relations between the two countries, because this would be fertile ground for critiquing Guyana’s foreign policy management, describing it as incompetent and as endangering the country’s national security.
Guyana’s territory and borders have never been safer than they are today.
None of Guyana’s neighbours are going to invade Guyana. None of them are going to take our land.
In fact, what has been achieved by the present administration through diplomacy has never been achieved through diplomacy or other means by any other government.
Guyana made a successful diplomatic effort in taking its maritime dispute with Suriname to an Arbitral Tribunal established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Guyana came out with a victory from that ruling which has been effectively settled through international law – a longstanding dispute.
It took courage to have gone that route and that courage emanated from the present administration, not from the gunship diplomacy that some would wish the government to pursue.
And this is another reason why there will be other forces egging Guyana to take action to defend the borders against some perceived threat from Suriname. This is a view that would force the government into increased military spending and increase troop levels.
One expectation, therefore, of those who wish to amplify what the Suriname leader is purported to have said, would be to use this issue as fodder to criticize the military readiness of Guyana, and therefore also argue that the government has failed to provide for the territorial security of the country.
Guyana does not need to increase military spending or increase troop levels. Suriname is not going to invade Guyana. The Surinamese are not going to engage in military adventurism.
Politically, that makes no sense. There is no hint of an internal loss of favour that would force the present government of Suriname to undertake such a course of action to deflect from domestic concerns.
In fact, it is in Suriname’s best interest to court friendly relations with all countries, more so since its president is seeking greater international credibility and respectability.
Suriname, therefore, is not going to risk any aggressive action against Guyana, and all the hot air that we will read about in the next few days will not detract from the ongoing process of improved relations between Guyana and Suriname.

---

---