Suriname’s jungle geopolitics
Editorial
Stabroek News
October 17, 2002
Ten years after the end of the bloody ‘Bush War’ between Desi Bouterse’s National Army and Ronnie Brunswijk’s ‘Jungle Commando’ in 1992, things are stirring again in Suriname’s jungles.
This time, and all of a sudden, there seems to be a surge of foreign military interest in what Suriname’s bush has to offer. The presence of extra-regional troops in Suriname cannot be unimportant to Guyana and other neighbouring states and the Caribbean Community.
A high-level Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delegation visited Suriname in mid-July to examine the possibility of establishing a jungle-warfare training base there for soldiers of the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese visit came less than a month after a team of marines from the Netherlands Army conducted a similar exercise to examine possible jungle warfare training areas, such as the Ayoko training camp near to the Zanderij air base.
Suriname’s Defence Minister Ronald Assen had visited the PRC in April-May last year when, in addition to receiving US$0.4 M in defence assistance for the Suriname National Army, he laid the foundation for continuing contact with the PLA. On his return journey from China, Assen paid a visit to his counterpart in the Netherlands, at that time Frank de Grave, with whom the possibility of training Surinamese soldiers in the Netherlands was raised. de Grave then paid a return visit to Suriname late last year, to explore Dutch interest in training its marines in jungle warfare training there.
The geopolitical interests of China and the Netherlands in the Region have increased as the USA, preoccupied by the consequences of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, has turned its strategic focus to war in Afghanistan and, in due course, Iraq. The USA’s distraction, taking with it some of the UK’s attention as well, encouraged the PRC to extend its global reach by building strategic relationships with countries in the hemisphere. Last August-September, the PRC Defence Minister Chi Haotian paid unprecedented visits to Venezuela and to Trinidad and Tobago (where it will contribute to the construction of a 30-bed hospital for the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force).
Suriname’s bauxite, gold, petroleum and timber industries have always been of strategic economic importance to the Netherlands and the presence of Dutch ground forces there would be good insurance. Troops in Suriname would also complement Dutch Naval units in the Netherlands Antilles where the interdiction of the narcotics trade is top priority.
France has also cultivated very good military relations with Suriname which, given the instability of the 1980s, it regards as the country most likely to pose a threat to the security of the Arianespace project at Kourou, in Guyane.
Venezuela and Brazil, like France, strengthened their military relations with Suriname out of self interest during Desi Bouterse’s decade-long dictatorship of the 1980s and both countries contributed to Suriname’s present military stability.
Suriname has methodically rebuilt its National Army over the past decade. It strengthened its ties with Brazil from which it acquired a squadron of EE-9 Cascavel armoured cars and EE-11 Urutu armoured personnel carriers. It bought from Spain the Rodman patrol boats which were used against Guyana in the CGX aggression. It has also strengthened its Air Force and increased its manpower to over 2,000 troops.
Suriname does not play a big role in the sterile US-UK sponsored Exercise Tradewinds with its Caribbean colleagues. Instead, Ronald Assen, its active Minister of Defence, has been busy weaving alliances with old and new friends and trying to make his country into something of a minor strategic player in this region.