US embassy cable - 04PARAMARIBO529

UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000529 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, ECON, SOCI, NS 
SUBJECT: SURINAME TO CONDUCT NEW CENSUS IN AUGUST 
 
REFS: (A) 02 PARAMARIBO 1171; (B) 03 PARAMARIBO 520 
 
1.  According to Surinamese media reports, the National 
Assembly unanimously approved legislation on July 8 to 
permit the conduct of a new census in August.  The census 
will be undertaken by the General Statistics Bureau (ABS) 
August 2-15 and will be financed by the government and the 
Inter American Development Bank.  Eline Ritfield, a member 
of the ABS census team, told the Embassy that her team hopes 
to have preliminary results from the census ready the first 
week in October.  Census data is particularly important for 
Suriname as the results would be the first obtained since 
1980 and would include information on the ethnicities and 
nationalities of Suriname's residents. (See Ref. A.) 
 
2.  The results of a census conducted last year, along with 
some of the country's economic, social, and labor 
statistics, were lost in an August 5, 2003, fire.  The media 
first blamed the fire on homeless people but police later 
arrested two young men, including the son of a crony of 
former military strongman Desi Bouterse, for the incident. 
(See Ref. B.)  The loss of valuable census data caused an 
uproar, as no safety measures had been taken. Planning and 
Development Cooperation Stanley Raghoebarsing promised the 
National Assembly that the new census results would be 
better protected.  He noted that, in addition to the 
security provided by the police and fire brigade, the 
government plans to hire a private security company to 
provide ABS offices with extra protection.  In addition, 
discussions regarding a computer backup system are ongoing. 
 
BARNES 
 
 
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