By Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: The Guyana government on Wednesday said statements attributed to a senior officer of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on the resolution of the border dispute between its eastern neighbours Suriname was unauthorised.

While both Guyana and Suriname officials are likely to say that diplomatic relations are good, the anxious wait for a ruling on a decades-old border dispute between the countries is beginning to show signs of frustration.

The Suriname government said that it was considering a formal response to what it termed ‘disturbing’ statements in the media by GDF Coast Guard Commander, Godfrey George. He had told the Stabroek News last week that the army is ready for any threat emanating from Suriname if a ruling on the border issue is in favour of his country.

The Guyana government said that it has noted the recent press statements attributed to the military on matters concerning official state policies. A statement issued by the Office of the President, noted that the government does not recognise the military as a source of official state policy.

“The Office of the President maintains that those statements by the military are unauthorised,” the statement noted.

According to the article, George claimed that Guyana has at least four fast gunboats to deploy if Suriname should violate the UN ruling. Apparently, that statement was not well received and the Surinamese are pondering a diplomatic note to Georgetown seeking clarification over the statement.

Vice-President Ram Sardjoe had told reporters that the possibility exists that Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname, Karsanjee Arjun, would be summoned for an explanation.

The Surinamese Vice-Minister told reporters that the government is reviewing the situation following what he termed as George’s “irresponsible” comments, noting that usually statements on border issues are not expected to come from low rank officials, but at a higher level.

An arbitration panel of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea is expected to deliver a verdict in August over the long-running maritime border dispute between the two CARICOM nations.

In June 2000, the Surinamese military evicted an oil rig under the control of Canadian-based oil explorer, CGX Energy, from the disputed area off the Surinamese west coast after it was granted an exploration rights by the Guyana government.