Suriname sends protest note to Guyana over disputed area


PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – Suriname's Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation, Albert Ramdin, on Friday, sent a protest note to the government of Guyana, following reports that the government of the neighbouring country wants to develop in the disputed border area between the two countries. 

According to the president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, his administration will harden the airstrip in the Tigri area at the so-called 'Camp Jaguar'.

Camp Tigri or Camp Jaguar is a military camp and airstrip located in the Tigri Area, disputed between Suriname and Guyana.

Ramdin on Friday summoned the Guyanese ambassador Virjanand Depoo to hand him a protest note.

During the meeting, the statements by Ali regarding start of the pavement work on the airstrip in the Upper Corantijn area before the end of this year were discussed. An earlier report from the Guyanese government regarding plans to build a new school on Kasjoe Island, also in the disputed area on the Upper Corantijn River by Guyana, was also discussed.

Ramdin also expressed concern “about the public announcements made to perform acts on Surinamese territory without permission from the government of Suriname”.

According to the ministry, the ambassador was also informed that the presence of Guyanese in the Tigri area is not in accordance with the agreements made between the two countries in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago in 1970.

The minister also indicated that the public announcements from Ali and his government “may unnecessarily disrupt the intensified, friendly and constructive cooperation between both countries”.

In 2015, then-president of Guyana, David Granger, said that Suriname should go to an international tribunal regarding the border issue with Guyana. “If Suriname is so convinced of the legality of its claim, it should submit the matter to an internationally recognised body,” Granger said in the Guyanese parliament.

In 2011, President Desiré Bouterse of Suriname advocated an amicable solution to the border dispute and put this issue back on the bilateral agenda. “The Tigri area is and remains Suriname's,” Bouterse said in the Surinamese parliament. “Let it be clear: it is our territory,” he continued.

The Tigri Area, called New River Triangle by the Guyanese, is a forested area in the South-Westren region of Suriname. The Tigri Area is an integral part of the Coeroeni Resort located in the Sipaliwini District. In 1969, three years after its independence, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) seized control of the disputed region when Suriname was still a constituent state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

On August, 19, 1969, border skirmishes occurred between Guyanese forces and Surinamese militias at Camp Tigri, which was subsequently conquered by Guyana. On March 18, 1970, Eric Williams, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago offered to mediate the conflict.

In November 1970 the Surinamese and Guyanese governments agreed in Trinidad and Tobago to withdraw their military forces from the Triangle. Guyana has not held to this agreement and continues to occupy the New River Triangle.

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