Guyana and Caricom
Editorial
It is not just Guyana which has suffered following the eviction of the CGX rig from its Eagle drilling site; so has the institution of Caricom itself. The members of the old Community were anglophone, shared a common culture and enjoyed an unspoken understanding of various conventions, including the rules of negotiation. Suriname's breach of those conventions in a situation where no sanctions can be applied, has undoubtedly weakened the regional body, and diminished its clout in the larger diplomatic arena. It is perhaps only now that the administration recognizes what the true benefit of Caricom to this country really was. Prior to more recent times, it had adopted a somewhat ambivalent approach towards the organization criticizing it in public, especially at the beginning, and striking an unfortunately partisan note by requesting that its support be withdrawn for certain Guyanese candidates to international posts from the PNC era. Aside from the fact that the individuals involved were not incompetent men, it transgressed the unspoken understanding that Caricom should not be required to take sides in the internal politics of individual territories. Added to that, Guyana broke ranks with her sister states over Caricom backing for a particular candidate to an international post. The tendency to blow hot and cold with the organization and its individual members - asking for support when it suited us, and doing our own thing when it didn't - has come with a price tag. It lost us the Community's endorsement for Dr Mohamed Shahabuddeen's re-election to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, for example, a serious setback with distressing implications. Our fickleness in relation to the Jamaica rice market is another instance which has produced consequences which we have had cause to rue. When we called on Caricom to condemn Suriname over the CGX aggression, therefore, our good-will capital with that organization was probably not as high as it could have been. That aside, there is nothing in the current provisions of the Treaty of Chaguaramas to cover a situation between two of its members such as the one which arose in June, and nor was the suggestion made when Suriname's application to the Community was pending that there should be. Suriname was admitted without any adjustment to the rules, and without any quid pro quo on a boundary settlement. According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs document entitled In Defence of Guyana's Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, which reproduces an extract from the report of the Caricom Heads of Government meeting held in Belize in 1995, at the time when it was agreed to admit Suriname, the Conference, "Urged that in the interim, Member States and Secretariat make every effort towards the resolution of the Suriname-Guyana border controversy..." This, as is now painfully evident, was no guarantee of any kind. Interestingly, what the document also reveals is that the objection to membership came not from Guyana, but from the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who perspicaciously enquired, "whether membership in the Community could be granted to a country which maintains a territorial claim against an existing member without resolving the matter or without obtaining some formal undertaking with respect to that country's intentions." Ideally, even though this is now very belated, Guyana should be seeking some adjustment to the treaty to cater for future eventualities of this kind, although that will require time, sustained diplomatic work and a mending of fences. In addition, there would be no guarantee that even if there were agreement with the anglophone states on the issue, Suriname would not exercise her veto. Whatever happens, as a general principle, this country should review her whole approach to Caricom, with the aim in mind of restoring greater understanding with the traditional members. It will mean persistence, patience, public discretion and more give and take. Caricom was always one of the important building blocks in our diplomatic border defence strategy, and while it has been fractured beyond repair owing to Suriname's membership, we should at least attempt to redeem something from the situation. After all, there is Venezuela to think about as well.
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