Excerpts from “The Defence of the New River” by David Granger and The Guyana –Suriname Boundary –A historical Review

Oct 11, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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The New River Triangle is part of our territory and has been in our possession from time immemorial.

The New River Zone is estimated to be about 15,540 km2 (6,000 square miles) an area that is three times the size of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the south-east of the country in the Amuku-Acarai highlands which form the watershed boundary

between Guyana and Brazil.
The terrain is rugged- a maze of steep-sided slopes, narrow valleys and numerous hills and ridges with heights up to 300 meters. High temperatures and heavy rainfall sustain dense rainforest with a thick canopy and tangled undergrowth. The zone is drained by several tributaries of the New River which flows in a north-north- east direction into the Corentyne River.
The history of Guyana’s boundary with Suriname is long and complex….. Guyana’s position has always been that the south-eastern boundary between Guyana and Suriname was determined by international agreement among the governments of Brazil, Great Britain and The Netherlands in 1936.
The concrete evidence of that agreement is the tri-junction point at the head of the Kutari River where their three territories touched. International maps have been drawn on the basis of that agreed point since that time.
Guyana always exercised sovereignty over the zone by granting licences and concessions to balata-bleeders and wood-cutters. From the colonial era, government geological expeditions have conducted surveys and rangers from the department of Agriculture and Lands and Mines have patrolled the zone to enforce regulations.
Much happened to alter the attitude of theNetherlands to Suriname’s mineral resources and its western border between 1926 and 1966, however. Weakened by invasion and occupation during the Second World War, the Netherlands was exhausted further by a costly but unsuccessful colonial war with its subjects in the Dutch East Indies.
That second war resulted in the independence of the new state of Indonesia in December 1949 and the loss of many of its lucrative economic interests there. The Netherlands as a result, revived interest in Suriname, its next largest colony, as a source of strategic raw material.
Suriname by the 1950s, had become the World’s largest exporter of bauxite and, unlike all other underdeveloped countries, already possessed a fully integrated industry- from mining bauxite ore to processing alumina and smelting aluminum. This industry would eventually generate 80 per cent by value of all Suriname’s exports. The expansion of the production meant tapping new reserves in Western Suriname, developing new hydro-electrical power sources and constructing transshipment facilities on the Corentyne River.
Suriname’s quest for new sources of hydroelectric power led it to conduct hydrographic surveys deep within Guyana’s national territory where it was calculated that the volume water flowing from the New River was greater than that of the Corentyne River. Largely on that basis, Suriname simply passed a resolution in its Staten thereby inventing a fictional frontier by changing the name of the New River to the Upper Corantyne (Boven Corantijn) and laying claim to it in 1965, the year before Guyana gained its independence.
In late 1967, the Suriname Government sent a land survey party into the New River Triangle. Early in December 1967, members of the Guyana Police Force launched “Operation Kingfisher”. A detachment of drawn mainly from the Tactical Service Unit was dispatched to the New River Zone. The police treated the 40 members of the Surinamese survey party working in the area as ‘illegal immigrants’, relieved them of their shot guns and expelled them. The Suriname authorities, which had laid claim to the area, protested the action as a grave breach of their sovereignty. They asked the Netherlands Government through their Ambassador in London to request Sir Lionel Luckhoo, Guyana’s High Commissioner, to provide a clarification at the earliest possible time. In reply, Luckhoo informed the Dutch Ambassador that no permission had been granted to the Government of Suriname to carry out any survey in the area. The presence of the survey team was therefore illegal and a violation of Guyana’s territorial integrity. In the circumstances, Luckhoo explained, the Guyana police had acted with commendable restraint.
Following this incident, an understanding was arrived at between the Governments of Guyana and Suriname that the latter would refrain from encroaching on Guyana’s territory.
The right of Guyana to the New River Triangle was stated firmly in 1968 by the Minister of State, Shridath Ramphal:
“By every token of history, custom, usage, prescription and recognition, indeed by every relevant criterion of international law, Guyana’s title to the New River Triangle is unassailable. It cannot now be competent for the Netherlands to raise a claim to the area when over the years they have acknowledged the Kutari as the boundary in the Notes and letters of their diplomats, in the speeches of their Ministers in their own Parliament, in their proposals for the conclusion of a Boundary Treaty, in their concurrence in the fixing of the common international boundary between Guyana, Suriname and Brazil, and in the absence of any exercise of jurisdiction over the area.”
Neither the Dutch nor the Surinamese showed any interest in holding talks on the border issue. Eventually, in September 14, 1968, Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, in a letter to Minister-President Johann Pengel of Suriname, expressed Guyana’s desire to discuss fully, cooperation and settlement of all issues between the two countries. This letter received no reply.
But while Guyana was looking forward to discussions on the border issue, Suriname commenced the clandestine occupation of the New River triangle in clear breach of the understanding arrived at in 1967. In mid-August 1969, a Guyana Defence Force patrol found an unauthorised camp and a partially completed airstrip on Guyana territory west of the Corentyne River in the area of the New River triangle. On August 19, 1969, the GDF carried an operation in the New River Triangle.  In the course of that operation, the GDF encountered a number of uniformed Surinamese who opened fire on the Guyanese soldiers. However, the Surinamese resistance was repelled and they abandoned their camp and fled in the direction of the Suriname border. In spite of the hostile intention of the Surinamese, the action taken by the GDF was essentially a policing action, aimed at removing intruders from Guyana’s territory.
The camp built by Suriname’s armed forces on Guyana’s territory was constructed as a military installation. It had underground bunkers especially constructed to protect against shell and mortar attacks and was equipped with towers and machine-gun emplacements. Maps left by the Surinamese revealed a plan to occupy the entire New River area with a series of military camps, with the discovered camp serving as a base and supply headquarters. Judging from the personal effects and accommodation facilities left at the camp, it was estimated that there were between 50 to 55 men occupying it. They left behind a Caterpillar bulldozer, a jeep, an electric power plant, a mechanical water pump, power driven hand saws, a large refrigerator and well-stocked kitchens.
On August 21, 1969, Prime Minister Burnham informed the Guyana National Assembly that strong protests were sent to the Governments of the Netherlands and Suriname. He announced that the GDF would remain in the New River triangle to prevent any further incursions. He concluded his statement by saying:
“There can be no doubt that the New River Triangle is part of the territory of Guyana and has been in our possession from time immemorial. This Government is pledged to maintain traditional friendly relations with our neighbours, including Suriname, and at the same time, our country’s territorial integrity.”

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