Caribbean360: Suriname wants illegal route to Guyana made valid

Suriname wants illegal route to Guyana made valid
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Chris Hoyos on 10/03/2010 11:19:00
 
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, March 10, 2010 – Suriname is proposing to turn a route
currently being used illegally by hundreds of people moving between that country
and neighbouring Guyana daily, into a legitimate passage, complete with customs
and immigration setups.
The proposal has been submitted to the Guyana government and was discussed
during talks between that country’s Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and
Suriname’s Minister of Justice and Police Chandrikapersaud Santoki.
Santoki said an examination of the use of the “back track” route – across
the Corentyne River – revealed that, on a daily basis, as many as 400 people
use it to cross the border.
He said that with Guyana and Suriname both being members of the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM), instead of preventing movement, they should be working
together to implement measures to control it.
“Our feeling is that the back track route on the Surinamese side should be
institutionalized; that means that we should put the control mechanisms in place
– immigration, customs, agriculture and that all those boats which are used
should be licensed and should be subjective to security conditions and security
measures,” Minister Santoki said.
“I have already sent the project dossier for my colleague and we are already
working to set up those mechanisms and we have done the infrastructure already.
This year we will start the establishment of effort, the effectiveness of the
functioning would depend also on the cooperation we will manage to arrange with
my colleague Rohee,” he added.
"The back track route on the Surinamese side should be institutionalized"
--Minister of Justice and Police Chandrikapersaud Santoki
Santoki contended that this type of movement is normal in countries which border
each other, pointing out that it also happens on the east side of Suriname with
persons entering and leaving French Guiana.
But he said strong security control is vital.
“You need to subject all these people to security conditions and security
measures and that will have a better control from both governments. You will
have safe travel but you will also have a good oversight of what is going on,”
the Surinamese Minister of Justice and Police contended.