US embassy cable - 05PARAMARIBO790

C O N F I D E N T I A L  PARAMARIBO 000790 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, MARR, EAID, NS, Article 98 
SUBJECT:  SURINAME TO SIGN ARTICLE 98? 
 
REF:  PARAMARIBO 736 
 
Classified by Charge d'affaires, a.i. Mary Beth Leonard, 
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Surinamese President Venetiaan announced 
in an appearance before the National Assembly on December 6 
that Suriname intends both to join the International 
Criminal Court (ICC) and to sign an Article 98 agreement 
with the United States.  A subsequent conversation with the 
President's political advisor for international 
organizations, Niermala Hindori-Badrising, revealed that 
Suriname may have missed the opportunity to take a 
reservation to the Rome Statute that would render its 
accession compatible with Suriname's constitutional 
prohibition against extraditing its own citizens, 
complicating Suriname's ability to become a party to the 
ICC.  Nevertheless, she expressed continued interest in 
pursuing an Article 98, as Suriname is looking for a 
solution to the possible barrier to ICC membership, and 
does not want to jeopardize U.S. military assistance should 
that come to pass.  Please see information request at 
paragraph (6).  End summary. 
 
2.  (U)  In response to a question from a National Assembly 
member of his own political party, Ruth Wijdenbosch, 
President Venetiaan replied that Suriname was going to 
accede to the ICC, and would also conclude an Article 98 
agreement to prevent American citizens from being handed 
over to its jurisdiction.  No time frame was given for 
either action.  He said his government was studying the 
provisions for signing an agreement with the United States, 
and said this action was not unusual, naming for example 
neighboring Guyana as a country which had already concluded 
an Article 98 accord. 
 
3.  (C)  Although the Ambassador had again discussed 
Article 98 agreements with the new Foreign Minister in 
their initial call on November 10, and Embassy officers had 
been informally told that Suriname would probably have no 
difficulty signing the Article 98 if they decided to join 
the Court, the Government of Suriname (GOS) had not shared 
its intended announcement with the Embassy in advance. 
Charge called the president's international affairs 
political advisor, Niermala Hindori-Badrising, on December 
8 to inquire about the statement, and to stress the 
importance of concluding the Article 98 before ratification 
of the Rome Statute to avoid sanctions under the American 
Service-Members' Protection Act (ASPA).  Badrising gave the 
impression of herself having been unaware of the intended 
announcement, and explained a possible major impediment to 
Suriname joining the ICC.  She explained that the GOS had 
apparently missed the deadline to declare its intention to 
take any reservations or exceptions to the Rome Statute, 
which the GOS feels it must do given its constitutional ban 
on handing over Surinamese citizens for extradition. 
Nevertheless, the GOS still held hope of finding a solution 
to this problem, and Badrising said she was preparing a 
memo to the president on the technical options available on 
the Rome Statute and Article 98.  She added that it was the 
technical error regarding the reservation deadline and the 
unwillingness to take controversial decisions before 
Suriname's May elections that had prevented these decisions 
from being finalized before now. 
 
4.  (SBU) When Badrising expressed renewed reservations 
about the compatibility of the ICC and Article 98, Charge 
explained the U.S. view that the exceptions permitted under 
the statute were in the same spirit as the Article 98 
exclusion, a position apparently shared by the 101 
countries that had signed such agreements to date.  Charge 
further outlined the need to sign an Article 98 agreement 
before accession, because the sanctions that would be 
invoked by the ASPA would immediately derail military 
assistance programs such as IMET and FMF, together worth 
close to USD 650,000 this year.  Charge agreed to fax the 
public list of countries whose Article 98 agreements were 
now in force, as well as duplicates of the various sample 
agreements the Ambassador had provided to Foreign Minister 
Kraag-Katedelijk last month.  In addition, Hindori asked 
for clarification on which version of the agreement had 
most typically been signed by CARICOM members who had 
already concluded Article 98 agreements. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment and action request:  While the GOS may 
have worked itself into a show-stopping problem with the 
ICC, they have by Badrising's accounting not abandoned hope 
of resolving it.  Meanwhile, they are apparently energized 
both by the President's public announcement and the 
potential sting of ASPA sanctions if they become ICC 
members to move ahead on Article 98.  We are eager to 
strike at this window of opportunity to sign an agreement 
 
while the GOS ponders its larger ICC difficulties.  We 
would appreciate the Department's clarification on whether 
there has been a trend toward one model or another of 
Article 98 agreement formats among CARICOM countries who 
have signed them. 
 
LEONARD 
 
 
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