Carrington admits border disputes disturb Caricom spirit

Sunday, March 21, 2004

PARAMARIBO (AFP): Edwin Carrington, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and Cariforum, agrees with Suriname's President Ronald Venetiaan that border disputes between Guyana and Suriname disturb the Caricom spirit.

Carrington told a joint Cariforum/European Commission (EC) press conference late Friday that territorial claims were affecting the community.

"There those of individual, non-community member states and member states. Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Barbados, Trinidad. There are issues that have to undergo 'surgery'. And we need to get the matter settled," he said.

Here, Carrington sees a new task for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). 

"When the CCJ becomes operational, that with mechanism there be at least one mayor institution in place which could help to resolve the matters, and help to contribute to a better and more developed and accepted Caribbean community."

Among lingering disputes, Guyana and Suriname, on the northeastern shoulder of South America, dispute their maritime border.

In February, Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo said his administration was fed up trying to settle the issue on a bilateral level and charged Suriname frustrated the process with delaying tactics.

Guyana filed a claim and is taking the maritime dispute to the Hamburg-based United Nations International Tribunal on the Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

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