Suriname wants border dispute talks deferred to after elections - Rohee
Foreign Affairs Minister Clement Rohee says Suriname is not prepared to continue discussions on the border dispute between the two countries until after general elections here next month. The dispute stems from Suriname's eviction of an oil rig in June last year from this country's waters. The rig had been licensed to search for oil in Guyana's maritime zone under an agreement signed with the Canadian company CGX. Several rounds of talks in Suriname, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica - bilaterally and under the aegis of a facilitator - failed to yield a solution. Responding to a question at a press conference held at the Ministry on Thursday, Rohee said that he had not been given any mandate to discuss the border issue with Suriname at the recent Intersessional Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in Barbados. He, however, pointed out that a meeting did take place between himself and his Surinamese counterpart, Marie Levens as a follow-up to an earlier conferral in Georgetown. The two ministers took the opportunity to review what had transpired since their last meeting and acknowledged that some progress had been made. Suriname, he stated, had expressed its readiness to begin discussions with Guyana in the context of the Cooperation Council and the Joint Border Commission but only after the elections in Guyana were held. On the question of third party involvement in the border dispute with Suriname, the Foreign Minister assured the press that the mechanism involving the chairman of CARICOM and the Prime Minister of Jamaica, P J Patterson as facilitator was still intact. As far as he was aware, there had been no changes in the position of Suriname which continued to be part of that mechanism. Asked whether he felt that CARICOM should have a special mechanism to deal with border problems that crop up between member states, the minister hinted that there was some intention to establish a separate entity in the future to look at such matters. He, nevertheless, insisted that a mechanism did exist at present. Rohee noted that Suriname had expressed concern over the procurement of naval vessels by the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). The government is in the process of acquiring a minesweeper from the United Kingdom for the GDF and other naval craft are in the offing when a maritime pact with the United States is signed. The GDF has for years been under-equipped in the naval arena and Paramaribo possesses a far superior array of vessels including armed patrol boats which it used to chase away the rig and to aggressively patrol the Corentyne River.
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