– in address to House
Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett criticized the current Surinamese administration on Monday for its silence on reports of a past plan to invade this country’s New River Triangle.
Speaking in the National Assembly prior to the start of the budget debate, the minister said there was a public admittance and that authorities in Suriname have failed to dissociate the government from the “admitted invasion instructions”.
Rodrigues-Birkett said the neighbouring government has also not clarified that it opposes the use of force against the territorial integrity of this country. She emphasized that this is important given continued agitation in Suriname for the annexation of local territory.
According to the minister, Suriname has failed to reassure Guyana and the international community that the use of force is not an option it currently embraces. She declared that the onus is on the Surinamese government to make a public statement of this effect, adding that silence will be interpreted to mean that force is still a component of its policy towards Guyana.
The minister had previously indicated that Guyana would alert several key international and regional organizations about the past threat and she reported on Monday that this has been done. “…had it occurred [it] would not have only constituted a material breach of material law, but would have resulted in the destruction of the peace in the region.”
She said Guyana is hopeful that inflammatory statements emanating from official and unofficial sources in Suriname do not signal a return to an adventurist posture by its eastern neighbour and that its government would eschew the use of force.
Last week Rodrigues-Birkett had informed the Surinamese government through officials here that Guyana was “deeply concerned” over the reports of a past invasion plan.
She said the government here was troubled by the information flowing out of Suriname and that protests would be lodged with the international organisations of which Guyana and Suriname are members. “We certainly intend to pursue this matter, but we also await word from the Surinamese government,” the minister had said.
An Office of the President statement also issued last week had referred to the press reports in Suriname as outlining the country’s hostile intentions of invasion and it quoted members of the former Surinamese government and a President as being among those who spoke publicly on the issue. According to the OP statement, press reports in Suriname have pointed to public statements made in Parliament by Surinamese politicians, including a disclosure that a previous Surinamese administration had intentions to invade Guyana and seize the New River Triangle.
