Date: Fri, 15 Sep 95 10:53:42 BST
From: Forest Peoples Programme <wrm@gn.apc.org>
Subject: SURINAME: FOREST CONFLICTS REACH FLASHPOINT
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WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
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15 September 1995 PRESS RELEASE
SURINAME:
FOREST CONFLICTS WITH MINERS AND LOGGERS REACH FLASH POINT
CONFLICT BETWEEN FOREIGN LOGGING AND MINING COMPANIES IN SURINAME HAS
REACHED FLASHPOINT. ARMED POLICE GUARDING A CANADIAN GOLDMINE HAVE BEEN
SHOOTING AT VILLAGERS TRYING TO GAIN ACCESS TO THEIR FORESTS, WHICH NOW FALL
WITHIN THE COMPANY CONCESSION. IN RESPONSE TO THE TAKEOVER OF THEIR LANDS,
THE AMAZONIAN INDIANS AND MAROON COMMUNITIES OF THE FORESTED INTERIOR HAVE
DECLARED REGIONAL AUTONOMY AND CALLED ON THE GOVERNMENT TO FREEZE THE
HANDOUT OF CONCESSIONS UNTIL THEIR LAND RIGHTS ARE RESPECTED.
Suriname has a population of only 400,000 people, 90% of whom live in the
capital and coastal centres. The rainforests of the interior, covering an
area the size of England and Wales, are home to four Indian peoples and six
tribes of Maroons - descendants of escaped slaves who recreated forest
societies in the interior in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Denied land rights and marginalised by development, these peoples have
already been caught up in a vicious six year civil war which devastated the
country and brought its bauxite- and aid-dependent economy to near ruin. A
tenuous peace with the tribal insurgencies, brokered by the Organisation of
American States, was established in 1992, in return for unkept promises to
secure land rights and community development. However, instead the
Government has embarked on a risky policy of handing out the country's rich
natural resources to foreign companies.
Under these arrangements the Canadian company Golden Star Resources has
gained access to rich auriferous reefs in the interior of Suriname. The same
company has recently been in the headlines for causing a massive cyanide
spill in neighbouring Guyana, when over four million cubic metres of toxic
slurry cascaded into the country's main river. In Suriname, the company's
first operations at Gros Rosebel have already led to the forced eviction of
thousands of Maroons living within the concession after being threatened by
the Minister for Justice and Police with airstrikes in June this year. In
reaction to the imposition of a pass system to regulate access to the
forests and farms in the concession area, the Maroons resorted to blockading
the road to the mining camp. Shots were fired by armed police on 28 July as
they moved to forcibly dismantle the blockades. On 28 August another forced
expulsion took place and, according to Surinamese human rights workers,
armed police and security guards are now patrolling the area shooting
indiscriminately at community members trying to get access to their
forests.
The Government is also in the process of handing out three one-million
hectare concessions to Malaysian and Indonesian loggers. One contract for
over one million hectares negotiated with the Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya
Sdn. Bhd. overlaps the lands of several Maroon and indigenous peoples and is
about to be submitted to the National Assembly. The affected communities are
indignant that they have not been consulted.
In response to this growing pressure on their lands, indigenous and Maroon
leaders held a 'Gran Krutu' (Great Gathering) on 19-21 August at the Maroon
village of Asindopo. The meeting ended with the release to the press of a
declaration by the leaders that they had set up a 'Supreme Authority of the
Interior' which asserted the right to agree to or refuse development in the
hinterland. The 'Gran Krutu' demanded that the Government not grant any
further mining and logging concessions on their territories and declared:
'We, the Indigenous People, descendants of those who have lived in Surinam
since the beginning, and we, descendants of the Maroons, who fought for
their freedom; We who have lived for so many centuries in Surinam, where our
umbilical cord is buried; We speak now because we feel that the time has
come to exercise our right to self-determination, as our ancestors did
before us. The time has come for us to feel: that we want other peoples know
that we are here! We want them to know that we have our own homes and places
of residence, our own chiefs, our own government, our own songs, our own
dances, our own stories, our own history, in short our own culture, our own
wisdom, our own thought and our own customs, our own life, our own land, in
particular our own forests, where we must be able to live the way we think
right! This is why we are holding this large meeting, to discuss together
how we will apply our right to self-determination to the development of our
people. We call on our people!'
The numerous resolutions passed at the meeting also included the assertion
that:
'We have the exclusive right to effectively use the natural resources on
and in our territories as applicable to our own development. We have the
right to determine when and how these resources will be used for the purpose
of our development. The natural resources can only be exploited by persons
or organizations outside our communities if they have the express and
written permission of our authorities, and that such things as the form and
amount of fair compensation for our community are laid down in agreements.'
NEW BOOK 'Forest Politics in Suriname' by Marcus Colchester exposes the
background to this crisis. Published by International Books, Utrecht. 96pp,
maps, photos. 9.99 ppk. 75p UK Post & Packaging. 2.50 overseas airmail.
Available from: World Rainforest Movement, 8 Chapel Row, Chadlington, OX7
3NA, England Tel: 01608 676696 Fax: +44 1608 676743 Email: wrm@gn.apc.org.