Defence Board awaits comprehensive report
The Defence Board is not yet in receipt of a definitive report on the incident last Friday involving four Surinamese soldiers who tried to detain a passenger boat on Guyana's territory. The soldiers were in a dinghy launched from a Surinamese patrol boat, one of two vessels which had pursued the passenger boat on its journey from Nickerie to its base at Shameera landing at Corriverton. Speaking with reporters at his fortnightly press briefing on Friday at the GTV studios, Homestretch Avenue, Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, said that the Defence Board was not in receipt of a report on the incident. However, he said that the police and unmentioned sources had "provided information on the incident and efforts are being made through the appropriate channels to provide as accurate and as comprehensive a report of the incident as possible." He explained that "governmental responses would need to be made in the context of the availability of accurate and comprehensive information and until that was concluded to our satisfaction I believe that some of the concerns expressed about responses would have to be held in abeyance." Dr Luncheon refused to concede that the length of time that it was taking for the Defence Board to obtain a definitive report suggested that there was a deficiency in the national security. He contended that the purpose for which the information was needed would determine how comprehensive it would be required to be. "The fact that the incident took place is not in question... but what precisely took place is a matter of conflict and surely if the administration were to be presented with a Defence Board submission it would have to deal with a body of information, facts that go beyond conflict and inaccuracy. So it is information of an acceptable nature which is not available currently and that is why efforts are being made by the appropriate agencies to obtain it." Dr Luncheon said that it was an approach no one could fault if the incident was to be used as an indication for approaches to agencies both inside and outside Guyana. "I think we would have to be on very secure grounds in our claims and in our submissions," Dr Luncheon said, adding that the information currently seemed to be lacking in that respect. The cabinet secretary confirmed that there was a military presence at Benab, about five miles from where the incident took place but could not say when the information about the incident was relayed to that location. Reports from the area said that the information was relayed to the military location while the incident was in progress. However, Dr Luncheon explained that given the resources and size of the military detachment at Benab, its remit was very limited and that was why the civilian agencies had been tasked with obtaining the information. Last Friday, four Surinamese soldiers in a dinghy pursued a passenger boat which plies between Nickerie and Corriverton ferrying passengers between the two border areas to the Scotsburg foreshore. The boat had eluded two Surinamese patrol boats from one of which the dinghy was launched. The reports differ as to whether the soldiers came ashore or not and whether they had discharged six shots in the area to disperse a group of villagers who had gathered at the Scotsburg beach. There is also uncertainty as to whether the villagers were armed with sticks and bottles as was reported by Stabroek News based on reports from sources in the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad.
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