Star Metro - France pressures Suriname as illegal mining plagues border

France's overseas territory lies east of Dutch-speaking Suriname, which in 2021 signed a border delineation agreement with its South American neighbor that included measures to combat illicit gold extraction.

But Paramaribo never ratified the accord, and illegal mining is in full swing on its side of the Marowijne river, the body of water separating Suriname from French Guiana and its strict anti-extraction laws.

AFP recently joined a press trip organized by the French Guiana-based Mining Activity Observatory (OAM), taking a helicopter over territory ravaged by illegal gold extraction.

The bird's-eye view showed enormous craters on the Surinamese side of the discolored Marowijne.

Mercury levels in the area are 8,469 times above the World Health Organization limit, Indigenous rights activist Jupta Itoewaki told AFP.

And arsenic levels have risen 4,623 times above the limit, said Itoewaki, who hails from the 1,000-strong Wayana community.

"The entire community is exposed daily through water and food," she said, calling on Surinamese authorities to investigate the issue.

"The government itself is part of the problem," she added.

- Legal avenues -

The OAM has documented how Surinamese, French Guianese and Brazilian miners work secretly in streams near the border, where they extract gold using methods that contaminate the soil and the water with mercury.

Companies such as SIAL meanwhile mine legally in French Guiana, without the use of mercury and within French regulations.

France's ambassador to Suriname, Nicolas de Bouillane de Lacoste, flagged an "alarming deterioration in the state of the river" partly due to illegal mining.

The ambassador reiterated France's call for Suriname to ratify the 2021 deal.

"A border agreement on its own will not put an end to illegal gold extraction. However, it will provide legal certainty to jointly combat irregular mining," he told AFP.

- 'Losing battle' -

French authorities say they have deployed some 500 soldiers on land, at sea and in the air to combat illegal mining.

A border dispute makes the already challenging task even harder, said France's defense attache, Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Rigault.

"Because the border has not yet been demarcated, it is difficult to determine which country an island belongs to," he said, explaining that these circumstances make it easier for miners to escape from justice.

"This prevents us from taking effective action," he said.

Ambassador De Bouillane de Lacoste called it a "losing battle."

"If we do nothing, the situation could really spiral out of control," he said.

He warned that pollution affects "aquatic biodiversity as well as the health and living conditions of riverside populations," and even child development.

From the air, AFP observed shops, mostly Chinese-owned, dotted along the Surinamese riverbank and flanked with legions of fuel barrels used to supply illegal miners.

Surinamese Foreign Minister Melvin Bouva earlier in July pledged to ratify the agreement with French Guiana, without specifying a date.

For Itoewaki, ratification "is a necessary first step, not a solution."

"Ratify the protocol and recognize our land rights. Otherwise, nothing will change in the water," she said.

F.Davis--SMC