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 neighboring country wants to develop in the disputed border area between the two countries.
According to Guyana’s president, 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, which is disputed between Suriname and Guyana.
Ramdin on Friday. Summoned the Guyanese ambassador Virjanand Depoo to hand him a protest note.
Ali’s statements were discussed during the meeting. Ali wants to start the pavement work on the airstrip in the Upper Corantijn area before the end of this year. An earlier report from the Guyanese government that plans to build a new school on Kasjoe Island, also in the disputed area on the Upper Corantijn River by Guyana, was 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 different from the agreements made between the two countries in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago in 1970.
The minister also indicated that Ali and his government’s public announcements “may unnecessarily disrupt the intensified, friendly, and constructive cooperation between both countries.”
In 2015, the then-president of Guyana, David Granger, said that Suriname should go to an international tribunal regarding the border issue with Guyana. The Guyanese leader could only accept that Suriname would continue to claim with further steps. “If Suriname is so convinced of the legality of its claim, it should submit the matter to an internationally recognized 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. According to the then-Surinamese leader, it made little difference that the heads of state of both countries had a good relationship. This does not diminish the claim. The government will work towards a peaceful solution—a “friendly settlement,” according to Bouterse.
The Tigri Area, also known as the Guyanese New River Triangle, is forested in the Southwest region of Suriname. It is an integral part of the Coeroeni Resort, which is 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 Guyana subsequently conquered. On 18 March 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 upon this agreement and continues to occupy the New River Triangle.
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