The Guyana - Suriname Territorial Conflict: Is the Moment Opportune for Third Party Intervention?

• Author: Dr. Tyrone Ferguson
• Pages: 111-126

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The Guyana-Suriname Territorial Conflict

The Guyana-Suriname Territorial

Conflict: Is The Moment Opportune For

Third Party Intervention?1

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4Dr. Tyrone Ferguson

Introduction

The neighbouring CARICOM2 countries of Guyana and Suriname once

again found themselves in a severe conflict mode in June 2000. On that

occasion, the Surinamese military flexed its muscles and succeeded in

preventing the start of exploration activities in offshore waters in the north of

Guyana by the oil rig of the Canadian company CGX Energy Inc., which

was operating under a license granted by the Guyana government. This

event ushered in a period of tension-filled bilateral relations between these

countries and brought into sharp focus the territorial conflict that has bedeviled

their relations for more than four decades.

In the aftermath of the June 2000 event, efforts at conflict management

of the contemporary crisis have been undertaken along two paths: the one,

strictly bilateral and the other, the facilitative third-party CARICOM process.

With regard to the former, there was, first, a brief spurt of failed bilateral

negotiations. This was followed by a short-lived, unsuccessful CARICOM

mediation initiative led by Jamaica. Thereafter, bilateral negotiations were

once again pursued, starting in early 2002, by these countries. While these

negotiations are ongoing, there has been a clearly articulated sense of

frustration by the governmental leadership in Guyana at the evident state of

impasse that they have reached.

This analysis explores the political-diplomatic dimensions of the current

conflict management experience of the Guyana-Suriname territorial

controversy. It argues that the prospects for successful bilateral conflict

112 Interview, Border and Maritime Issues in CARICOM

resolution in this case are virtually non-existent. In this regard, therefore, it

interrogates, first, whether the best option for finding a mutually acceptable

and sustainable solution to this conflict is not the third-party option and,

second, whether the present moment is propitious to activate this option.

The analysis begins by very briefly placing the conflict in historical

perspective and by reviewing the post-colonial efforts at conflict resolution.

It then examines the contemporary manifestation and assesses the two attempts

so far at conflict management: the CARICOM mediation initiative and the

bilateral negotiations. The analysis will conclude by tentatively exploring

the prospects for a conclusive third-party mode of settlement.

The Guyana-Suriname Territorial Conflict in Perspective

The Guyana-Suriname territorial conflict is an inheritance of their colonial

past3. In fact, Guyana’s emergence into nationhood in 1966 was somewhat

blighted by the virtually simultaneous sharp eruption of the two territorial

conflicts bequeathed to it by Great Britain, the colonial power at the time:

the more serious one involving its western neighbour, Venezuela, and the

other with its eastern neighbour, Suriname.

Specifically with regard to the Guyana-Suriname territorial conflict, it

has basically revolved around three issues. There is, first, the land boundary

involving the New River Triangle in the southern region of Guyana to which

Suriname lays claim. There is next, the river boundary dispute surrounding

sovereignty rights over the Corentyne River that separates the two countries.

Finally, there is the maritime boundary contention with regard to the disputed

offshore area in the north, the so-called “area of overlap”, which has figured

centrally in the contemporary phase of the conflict.

With respect to this territorial conflict, in the period immediately

preceding Guyana’s attainment of independence on 26 May 1966, efforts by

both countries to establish good neighbourly relations were pursued. They

included the visit of Guyana’s then Prime Minister, Forbes Burnham, to

Suriname in January 1966, on the invitation of his Surinamese counterpart

and the agreement reached on the procedures to deal with the frontier problem

and the joint handling of common problems via specific cooperation

mechanisms4. An immediate post-independence priority for Guyana in terms

of its diplomacy was the tripartite border talks that were held in London in

June 1966, involving these two countries and Holland – Suriname’s then

colonial ruler - which concluded with the clear understanding that further

talks would be pursued in the period ahead.