The Corentyne River, oil and the future of Guyana/Suriname Relations

The sudden, meteoric rise in the global public awareness of the South American nations of Guyana and Suriname - hitherto two of the least mentioned countries in the hemisphere - on the international stage, has everything to do with their near simultaneous world class oil discoveries within the five-year time span and the implications of these occurrences not just for their own future developmental prospects but also for their strategic interest to the rest of the world.

To take Guyana first it is entirely fair to say that the post-2015 global attention that the country has attracted would have, if calculated in terms of marketing dollars, amounted to far more than we could ever have afforded since it is not just the oil story that has featured in the ensuing global marketing blitz but also the opportunities for investment in other sectors of the economy, including sectors that can raise the level of our development in a relatively short space of time. Construction and agriculture are two areas in which considerable external investment interest has been shown by the new wave of potential investors and opportunities are beginning to open up for the lesser known sectors, including agro-processing, which allow for the creation of serious entrepreneurial opportunities for ordinary Guyanese who have been labouring in those sectors for many years with minimal returns.

Suriname, as far as we know, has been undergoing pretty much the same process. Some weeks ago President Santokhi addressed a forum of potential foreign investors in Suriname whose visit there was a response to that country’s more recent major oil discovery in the Guyana/Suriname basin and by the end of which a great deal of light was shed on the fact that the two countries appeared to have similar aspirations in terms of opening up to foreign investment and seeking to convert their oil wealth into material growth and consequential wealth for both countries.

Some positive developments have occurred at the bilateral level too including the recent exchange of visits at the level of the Presidents of the two countries. It was clear that both sides set out to communicate to their various publics that bilateral relations were moving in the direction of a game-changing junction. Both Georgetown and Paramaribo, it seemed, were going to some lengths to send a message to the international community, the attention of which they had caught, that the longstanding Corentyne River dispute might, perhaps, become subsumed beneath the potential for the monumental changing fortunes that could result from their respective oil finds. Indeed, given the importance of their collective oil wealth, a strategic

alliance between the two countries could place them, jointly, in a position of considerable importance on the global stage.

Contextually, one might argue that it was hardly by accident that in April this year, the issue of fishing in the Corentyne River was among the issues discussed at a meeting between the fishermen and members of the Corentyne business community and United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, a clear indication that the timbre of bilateral relations between Georgetown and Paramaribo is not going unnoticed in the wider international community.

What persists as a huge fly in the ointment in terms of relations between Georgetown and Paramaribo, however, are the age-old protestations by Guyanese fishermen whose complaints of harassment in the Corentyne River by the Surinamese military boat patrols, continue. The outcome of a meeting earlier this month between some of the aggrieved fishermen and Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha appeared to suggest that the ‘ball’ will once again be thrown into the tired court of Takuba Lodge which, it has to be said, has made sorry little progress towards resolution, a circumstance for which much of the blame does not rest on its own shoulder. Suriname, as has already been said, has, over the years, proven to be testy in negotiations, particularly where exchanges concern the Corentyne River are concerned.

Mindful, perhaps, not to undermine such work that has been done so far between Presidents Ali and Santokhi to create something of an aura of conviviality Minister Mustapha, in his exchange with the Corentyne fishermen, appeared prepared to go no further than declare that “Guyana’s fishermen should have users’ rights for the river” before tossing the ball back at the Foreign Ministry.

Evidence of Paramaribo’s seeming intransigence in the matter of the right of the Corentyne fishermen to ply their trade in the river was transparently reflected in what was reportedly the outcome of a recent meeting between delegations from Georgetown and Paramaribo to discuss the issue. Mustapha is quoted as saying that Paramaribo’s position on fishing in the river is that “they are willing to give the fishermen licences both for the Corentyne River and for their waters,” which, in effect, amounts to an unvarnished assertion of sovereignty, a position which Guyana continues to reject, out of hand.

The question that remains unanswered has to do with whether or not the opportunity which the oil and gas resources of the two countries has created for a new era in bilateral cooperation provides sufficient leeway for a changed direction in bilateral relations that leaves the issue of the Corentyne River behind or whether the well-known posture of unwavering intransigence that has customarily informed issues of territorial integrity will continue to prevail. There will continue to be a pointed question mark over the potential of the two countries to move on to much bigger things insofar as bilateral relations are concerned unless the matter of the Corentyne River can be settled in a matter that satisfies them both.