National response
Editorial
Stabroek News
March 16, 2003
Last week the Surinamese appeared in Georgetown for one of the periodic meetings of the Joint Border Commissions. It will be recalled that the two national commissions are exploring the modalities for the joint exploration and exploitation of resources in the maritime zone from which Suriname evicted the CGX oil rig. Just how seriously our neighbour takes these meetings can be gauged from the fact that just the week before, they had approached the foreign missions and international organizations accredited in Paramaribo requesting that they accept a map of their territory incorporating Guyana's New River Triangle.
"Rank eye-pass," thundered the PNCR's Raphael Trotman on Thursday, while Foreign Minster Rudy Insanally of necessity was more circumspect, observing that Suriname's action was "unexpected and unhelpful to the relations between the two governments." Subsequently it was announced that Guyana had lodged a formal protest with the Suriname Government, and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also communicated with all the countries and international organizations to which the map request had been forwarded.
On Friday, at the invitation of the GDF the media boarded the Coast Guard vessel the Essequibo, which in the company of two smaller vessels, sailed to the "median line between Guyana and Suriname." The purpose, we were told, was to demonstrate the army's capacity to protect Guyana's territorial integrity. This newspaper was informed (see report on page 1) that the Coast Guard routinely patrolled this area of Guyana's sea space, and that it would continue this kind of activity.
Certainly it seems as if the Government has come to the belated conclusion that Suriname is not acting in good faith, and that it is time we became less complaisant when dealing with our neighbour's perfidies. If that is indeed the case, then their view will no doubt coincide with that of most Guyanese, who will feel that a more energetic response to Suriname's fickleness and duplicity would be in order.
Having said that, however, one hopes that the administration has thought out its strategies carefully, and has undertaken the level of contingency planning necessary to cater for any combination of possible responses from Suriname. A decision to raise the temperature of relations should presuppose a calculation by the Government that it will be able remain in control of the situation, and not the other way around. A lack of clear policy in the past, and by extension, an absence of clear strategy, has cost this country dearly, and while a change of direction is unquestionably long overdue, one can only hope that it is not being adopted in a vacuum.
In addition, it can only be repeated that on matters of this kind it is absolutely essential that the response be national, and be seen to be national, and not simply governmental. On Thursday, Mr Trotman told the media that the "PNCR would be willing to support any initiative once it is informed by the best minds and the best strategies which would bring about a resolution to the problem." He added that the party would have no difficulty with persons within its ranks forming part of the team to address the issue.
Since the parliamentary committee dealing with border matters under the new constitutional arrangements cannot be constituted at present, perhaps the Government could look at some ad hoc arrangement in the meantime, whereby consultations could be had with the PNCR to discuss how the expertise in this field within its ranks could best be utilized. In addition, there should be some intention to craft a national statement on the matter of the eastern frontier, to which all the parliamentary parties could lend their support.
Above all else, Suriname cannot be allowed to believe that because this is a fractured society, it does not speak with one voice when its territorial interests are at stake. This is one of the few issues where the two major parties could work together on a truly national initiative; after all, the preservation of Guyana's territorial integrity is something to which all parties are committed.
