(de Ware Tijd) THE HAGUE/PARAMARIBO – The Netherlands will start to lobby France and the United Kingdom to strip Suriname’s Ambassador in Paris Harvey Naarendorp, a suspect in the December murders trial, of his status.
Talks will be held with Germany as well to bar Naarendorp, who is scheduled to present his credentials to that country’s President. Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Uri Rosethal made this announcement to the Lower House yesterday during the debate on Suriname and its Amnesty Act. The lobby has been started at the request of the fractions of the parties PvdA, VVD and PVV. Suriname’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Lackin is convinced this lobby too will fail. “The government of the United Kingdom has approved Naarendorp’s agreement in spite of Dutch protests. We do not believe this will change,” Lackin tells de Ware Tijd. He also does not expect France to take action. “Actually I do not even want to comment anymore on the Dutch actions. We are now spending our efforts on the development of our economy and will not be stopped by the Netherlands.”
He also feels strengthened by the fact that he has not noticed anything so far that points to Suriname’s isolation at bilateral and multilateral levels. The Lower House also expressed frustration at the “weak attitude” displayed by the European Union (EU) in this matter, calling the measures taken so far “disappointing”. Rosenthal pointed out, however, that “at this moment, the Netherlands cannot do anything more than what it has already done so far as lobby work and measures”. He added that many EU and South American countries are not that interested in Suriname. Therefore no more can be expected from the EU now but the so-called Article 8 dialogue, which will be resumed in either November or December after it nearly ended in failure in late May.