134 Chapter 2
Participants: 110 Guyana/115 Suriname
Outcome (and Settlement): Compromise (Negotiated)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Guyana seized four Surinamese trawlers, one of which was partly
owned by Suriname’s government and another that flew under the Korean flag.
Guyana imposed heavy fines on the trawler captains for fishing in its claimed 200-
mile exclusive fisheries zone without paying the required fee. On January 1, 1978,
Suriname retaliated, revoking about 100 fishing licenses for Guyanese fishermen
and harassing Guyanese loggers and mobile-shop operators along the Correntyne
River. In February 1978, Guyana and Suriname met to discuss the issue in Para-
maribo, Suriname. In July 1978, Guyanese Foreign Minister Rashleigh Jackson
met Surinamese Prime Minister Henck Arron in Brasilia for the signing of the
Treaty of Amazonian Cooperation. They agreed to return the seized boats, to open
the river, and to sign a fisheries agreement. In August, Guyana received its fishing
vessels and released the Sugam 26, and the river opened. In April 1979, Guyanese
Prime Minister Forbes Burnham and Surinamese Prime Minister Henck Arron met
in Barbados and signed a fisheries agreement, agreeing to reopen negotiations on
the border.
Coding changes: End Date changed from Missing.
MID#4156
Dispute Number: 4156
Date(s): June 3, 2000 to September 2000
Participants: 115 Suriname/110 Guyana
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: This is a dispute over the Suriname-Guyana border near the Corentyne
River that began in June 2000. First, Guyana permitted Toronto-based oil consortium
CGX Energy, Inc., to drill in the contested territory. Guyana tried to argue that both
countries could benefit from the arrangement with CGX, but Suriname did not want to
cede any part of its position over the territory. Both sides fortified their border as ten-
sions escalated. Though CGX withdrew and moved its drilling operations elsewhere,
no settlement was reached.
Relations between both states were friendly prior to the CGX incident, in spite
of the unresolved boundary dispute, and normalized quickly after for two months.
However, in September Surinamese soldiers pursued an unlicensed speedboat and
crossed the disputed maritime border on the Corentyne River. The boat eventually
came ashore at Scotsburg, Guyana. According to residents in the area, the boat and its
crew were fired upon during the Surinamese soldiers’ attempts to relaunch. Guyana
cited the incident as a territorial violation. At the South American leaders’ summit
in Brazil, both the president of Guyana and Suriname stressed friendly relationships
between the two countries despite the event.
Coding changes: End Date changed from June 2000.