Traffic on the Corentyne
Editorial
The turmoil in relations with Suriname over the CGX rig makes it imperative for Guyana to diligently manage cross-border activities to prevent dangerous events like the one at Scotsburg earlier this month when Surinamese soldiers intruded into our country. The Corentyne River has for a long time been the medium for uninhibited smuggling, the `backtrack' trade and arms and cocaine trafficking among other nefarious activities. Well-known criminals have also fled through our porous borders across the river to safe havens in Suriname. In times of minimal tension a blind eye has been turned to these activities. Smuggling and the `backtrack' trade have provided profits and livelihoods to thousands on both sides of the river and they continue to thrive. In the bad old days of banned items and limited imports, the flow of goods across the Corentyne was a welcome supply route for sought after items like split peas, flour, potatoes, canned items, onions and garlic. Transported furtively because of the 'food police', they were a sight for sore eyes whenever they made it into homes. With the open economy and unrestricted imports there is much less incentive for smuggling but it is still continuing and its partner in crime: `backtracking' seems to be flourishing as impressively as it was many years ago. In addition to being lawless, these activities pose an additional risk to national security as they provide an opening - thoroughly outrageous as it is - for the Suriname army to act as the "power on the river" as the country's newly-elected president Ronald Venetiaan put it bluntly at the recent summit of South American Presidents in Brasilia. This is a dangerous state of affairs as the Scotsburg incident reflected. Whatever the locally-owned boat was doing on the river it had apparently not been authorised or so licensed. It was then hotly pursued by two Suriname patrol boats. Based on reports from eye-witnesses who were sought out by Stabroek News, Paramaribo's soldiers on a dinghy launched by a menacing patrol boat landed on Guyana's soil and attempted to force the vessel and its occupants back over to Suriname and intimidate our citizens. After a crowd gathered and a squad from the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) approached, the Surinamese retreated to their dinghy but further attempts were made to intercept the local vessel. On two occasions during this episode shots were fired by the Surinamese Navy. This was a frightening confrontation and could easily have escalated into something much worse, provocative and deadly. Yesterday, almost two weeks after the incident was reported by this newspaper and eye-witness accounts were subsequently carried, the Defence Secretariat of the Office of the President confirmed that the Surinamese military had acted aggressively "during an incident involving a Guyanese boat and passengers that ended at the Scotsburg beach" and a formal protest has been lodged with Paramaribo. In the aftermath of the CGX incident, this latest transgression clearly establishes the aggressive, militaristic stand of the Surinamese even under a new administration. We must notify CARICOM, the UN and the rest of the international community of this latest violation and use it to solidify our case. In the interim, we must do everything possible on our side to prevent a situation where the Surinamese army feels it can flex its muscle and make an excursion into our territory. All of these known illegal landings must be shut on our side and no longer must a blind eye be turned to these activities. They represent a threat to the stability of relations between the two countries and can easily form the kernel of explosive confrontation. Despite our limited resources, surely the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force and BASS could be deployed in a more effective manner to thwart illegal operations across the river. A crucial component to this would be our own use of boats in the Corentyne to patrol the river and to ensure that Suriname can rest assured that no illegal activities from our side will penetrate into theirs. It's another of the pressing and growing list of reasons why this government must move swiftly to empower the maritime wing of the army. Paramaribo must also be told in no uncertain terms that it must do a better job at monitoring its own coastline to prevent the illegal transit of vessels across the Corentyne otherwise it could appear to be a deliberate policy on its part to allow the boats near to the Guyana coastline only for it to exert itself militarily. The government here must begin to show greater effectiveness in dealing with the blatant provocations by Paramaribo as witnessed by the CGX rig eviction, the intrusion by one of its aircraft and now the landing of its soldiers on our soil.
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