Suriname 2004

Suriname People

Yearbook 2004

Suriname. In February, at the request of Guyana, the border dispute with Suriname on an oil-rich area in the sea outside the two countries’ land borders was referred to the United Nations Naval Court, after the Caribbean cooperation organization CARICOM failed to present a solution. According to CountryAAH, the total population in Suriname is 586,643 people in 2020. Despite the border conflict, the two countries nevertheless gradually opened the year for talks on cooperation in a number of areas.

In January 2004, as a means of strengthening the country’s economy, the Dutch guilder was abolished as its currency. It was replaced by suriname dollars.

No candidate got 2/3 of the vote in parliament in the first round of the presidential election in July 2005. The result was repeated in the second round of elections, with Ronald Venetiaan receiving 27 votes against Rabin Parmessar’s 20. In the end, the General Assembly, consisting of 891 parliamentarians and local politicians from municipalities and districts to re-elect Venetiaan as president by 560 out of 879 votes. At the same time, Ram Sardjoe was elected Vice President. The parliamentary elections were won by the New Front for Democracy and Development with 41.2% of the vote. According to abbreviationfinder, SR stands for Suriname in text.

In May 2006, the country was hit by heavy rainstorms, triggering extensive flooding. Over 30,000 km2 were submerged, and 175 villages were almost “erased by the map” after being covered by up to 2 m of mud. 25,000 lost everything they had. The government characterized it as a “disaster situation” and called for immediate assistance from international organizations.

The 2006 IWGIA Annual Report criticized a mining law discussed in parliament for being racially discriminatory. If the law was passed, it would cause more Native American communities in the northern part of the country to be displaced to make way for new mines. At the same time, IWGIA pointed out that residents in the outskirts of the new mines would be exposed to mercury contamination that could cause birth defects and poisoning.

In October, several more homeless people sleeping on the streets were murdered in the capital. Two of them had been fired as early as February and the other two had been ignited with gasoline in May. The last victim was killed with an ax. Police suspected it was a serial killer. The number of homeless people in the capital has risen in recent years. Most of them with mental health problems.

Suriname People

History. – On February 25, 1980 the military overthrew the government of H. Arron; in August a National Military Council (CMN), chaired by D. Bouterse, suspended the 1975 Constitution, deposed President J. Ferrier and replaced him with H. Chin A Sen. Western-oriented in foreign policy, the new president was dismissed in February 1982 by Bouterse, in favor of intensifying relations with the non-aligned countries of the Caribbean. To the imposition of martial law (December 8), the Netherlands and the USA responded with the suspension of economic aid, aggravating a situation made already difficult by the decrease in exports of bauxite and aluminum. The popular protests against the austerity policy launched by the military and for the return to democracy eventually led the CMN to appoint a

Approved by a referendum on 30 September 1987, the Constitution entrusts legislative power to a National Assembly of 51 members, elected every 5 years by universal and direct suffrage; the Assembly elects the vice president (who is also prime minister) and the president; the latter, in office for 5 years, is holder of executive power, head of the armed forces, president of the Council of State (with consultative functions) and of the Security Council (which exercises power in the event of war).

In the November 1987 elections the National Democratic Party, supported by the military, was defeated by the Front for Democracy and Development (coalition between the National Party of Suriname, the Progressive Reformist Party and the Party for National Unity and Solidarity), which led to the presidency Ramsewak Shankar; Bouterse continued to influence political life by leading the Military Council, the body responsible for guaranteeing the peaceful transition to democracy. In August 1989 the government reached a peace agreement with the bosch neger guerrillas(descendants of slaves who fled to the forests) of the Suriname Liberation Army, active since 1986 in defense of their traditional autonomy, sanctioned by a treaty signed with the Dutch in 1760. The agreement was rejected by the military leaders who, after having armed against the bosch negers the Amerindian guerrillas of the Tucayana Amazonica group overthrew Ramsewak Shankar on 24 December 1990 and called new elections, in which the New Front, the 1987 coalition strengthened by the Suriname Labor Party, was imposed (25 May 1991). The new president, R. Venetiaan, consolidated ties with the Netherlands by concluding a new economic assistance agreement in June 1992, and initiating constitutional changes to eliminate military influence. Despite the agreement concluded with the two rival guerrilla groups (1 August 1992) and Bouterse’s resignation as commander-in-chief of the army (20 November 1992), the internal situation of the Suriname in the following months remained difficult; in April 1994 a new armed organization, the Suriname Liberation Front.