SURINAME, FLAG OF

national flag consisting of unequal horizontal stripes of green, white, red, white, and green, with a central yellow star. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 2 to 3. The only Dutch colony on the mainland of the New World to survive into the 20th century, Suriname (formerly known as Dutch Guiana) has a unique ethnic and cultural mix that sets it off from its Latin American neighbours. The Suriname national flag is consequently different from those of surrounding countries, although it generally resembles other new flags of the Caribbean region. As an autonomous territory under Dutch rule, Suriname in 1959 hoisted a white flag that bore a black ellipse. That unusual flag also had five stars whose colours (white, black, brown, yellow, and red) suggested the ethnic groups of the territory (Europeans, Africans, East Indians, Chinese, and Amerindians). The 1959 design was abandonedin part because many felt that it emphasized ethnicity over national unitywhen Suriname became independent on November 25, 1975. The new national flag, adopted just four days previously, had been developed in a national competition. It features green stripes for the country's jungles and agricultural lands, white for justice and freedom, and red for the progressive spirit of a young nation. At the centre of the flag is a yellow star symbolic of the unity of the country, its golden future, and the spirit of sacrifice necessary on the part of citizens to achieve that goal. Whitney Smith History The Surinen (from whom the country's name derives) were the area's earliest known inhabitants. By the 16th century, however, the Surinen had been driven out by other American Indian groups. Europeans learned of Suriname (and other areas in the Guyana region) from Christopher Columbus, who sighted its coast in 1498. A Spanish expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci and Alonso de Ojeda sailed along the coast of Suriname in 1499, and the Spanish explorer Vicente Yez Pinzn visited the region in 1500. Settlements attempted by the Spanish, Dutch, British, and French during the first half of the 17th century all failed, in part because of resistance by the native Indian inhabitants. The first permanent settlement of Europeans in Suriname was established by a group of British planters and their slaves in 1651. In 1667 Suriname was seized by a Dutch fleet, and that year it was ceded to The Netherlands in exchange for Nieuw Amsterdam (New York). Except for the years 17991802 and 180415, when it was under British rule, Suriname remained part of The Netherlands until its independence in 1975. Suriname developed into a flourishing plantation colony after Dutch planters, driven out of Brazil from the mid-17th century, settled in the area. Sugar was the main export, and the production of coffee, cacao, cotton, indigo, and wood gained importance during the 18th century. Until the mid-19th century the majority of the population were slaves, mostly from the west coast of Africa. The small white population was mainly of Dutch origin. Jews, who had come from Portugal, Spain, and Italy, mainly by way of Brazil, made up one-third of the whites, and the remainder came mostly from France, Germany, and Great Britain. In 1853 Chinese and Madeiran contract labourers were brought to Suriname to work on the plantations. Many of these workers eventually became small-scale merchants. On July 1, 1863, slavery was abolished in Suriname. The former slaves, however, were placed under government supervision for a period of 10 years in order to perform labour under contract. Contract labourers from India (called East Indians) were recruited to replace the former slaves, and workers also came to Suriname from Java, Indon. Despite efforts to preserve plantation production, Suriname's position as an agricultural supplier declined. In 1916 Alcoa (Aluminum Company of America) began mining the country's newly discovered reserves of bauxite, the principal ore of aluminum. Later, especially after World War II, Dutch interest in Suriname revived, seen first in the arrival of the Dutch mining company Billiton in 1939. The Netherlands began to provide development aid to Suriname in 1948, the year in which talks on Suriname's internal political autonomy began. After World War II the issue of universal suffrage served as a catalyst for political mobilization. Political parties were set up, most of them organized along ethnic lines. The light-skinned Creole elite, who opposed universal suffrage, set up the Suriname National Party (Nationale Partij Suriname; NPS). The Progressive Suriname People's Party (Progressieve Suriname Volkspartij; PSV) organized the working-class Creoles. The East Indians and Indonesians were eventually grouped within the United Hindu Party (VHP; later called the Progressive Reform Party) and the Indonesian Peasants' Party (Kaum-Tani Persuatan Indonesia; KTPI), respectively. Universal suffrage was instituted in 1948. After Suriname was granted autonomy in its internal affairs in 1954, development aid from The Netherlands increased steadily. From 1964 onward Suriname, as an associate member of the European Economic Community (EEC), also received aid from the EEC's development fund. In spite of this aid, Suriname's rate of economic growth was strong only during the mid-1960s, when there were dramatic increases in the production of alumina and aluminum. The 1958 elections produced a coalition government of the NPS and the VHP. In 1961 the left-wing Nationalist Republican Party (Partij Nationalistische Republiek; PNR) was established. Among the East Indian population the Action Group (Aktie Groep) became active. A split occurred in the NPSVHP coalition after the 1967 elections, which led to a coalition of the Action Group and the NPS, but in 1969 that government fell. A coalition was then formed by the VHP and the Progressive National Party (Progressieve Nationale Partij; PNP), which was set up by a group of intellectuals who had left the NPS. The National Party Alliance, a coalition of the NPS, the PSV, the KTPI, and the PNR, won the 1973 election. The PNR and most of the younger party leaders within the NPS favoured independence, as did the ruling socialist party in The Netherlands. Despite resistance from East Indians, who feared increased Creole domination, Suriname became independent on Nov. 25, 1975. In the late 1970s Suriname's economy continued to stagnate. Unemployment was high, and most of the population had incomes at the minimum subsistence level. On Feb. 25, 1980, after the government's refusal to sanction trade union activity within the armed forces, a group of noncommissioned army officers seized control of the government. The coup was welcomed by most of the population. The National Military Council (Nationale Militaire Raad; NMR), installed after the coup, called on the moderate wing of the PNR to form a Cabinet composed mostly of civilians. After the new Cabinet proclaimed that Suriname would return to democracy in two years, the Dutch government agreed to finance an emergency development program. After the military coup in 1980, government expenditures rose dramatically, particularly defense spending. The economy, moreover, steadily deteriorated, as a result of the suspension of foreign aid, the stagnation of private foreign investment, and the decline of the export (especially bauxite) sector. The country's domestic affairs continued to be strained, reflecting an uncertain and tense relationship between the military, with de facto power, and the nominal civilian government led by a president. The military leaders, initially without a clear political ideology, began to take a conciliatory approach toward left-wing radical factions close to the NMR, which led to the formation in August 1981 of the Revolutionary Front, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Dsi Bouterse. The Front included the Revolutionary People's Party (Revolutionaire Volkspartij; RVP), the PNR, and some of the trade and farm workers' unions. By the following year, however, as military leaders showed few signs of willingness to surrender control, trade unions, business associations, and professional groups began to proclaim their discontent. The conflict reached a climax in December 1982 when 15 prominent civilians were executed. The Netherlands and the United States immediately suspended development aid. In February 1983 a left-wing coalition was able to form a government, but a strike in the vital bauxite industry and the threat of a general strike led to its dismissal by the military within one year. Raids by the Surinamese Liberation Army, a guerrilla group better known as the Jungle Commando (JC; consisting mainly of Bush Negroes), disrupted bauxite mining and led to the killing of many Bush Negro civilians by the National Army; thousands of Bush Negroes fled to French Guiana. The deteriorating economic and political situation forced the military to open a dialogue with the leaders of the principal political parties that had operated before the coup. In 1985 a National Assembly was formed; a new Cabinet of Ministers was installed the following year, and a new constitution was approved in a referendum on Sept. 30, 1987. Elections held on Nov. 25, 1987, resulted in the defeat of the political wing of the military. The Front for Democracy and Development (Front voor Democratic en Ontwikkeling; FDO), a coalition of the VHP, NPS, and KTPI, formed a new government. In 1988 the Suriname and French governments (the latter as the sovereign of neighbouring French Guiana) began peace negotiations with the JC on the repatriation of the Bush Negroes and the incorporation of the JC in the police force. An agreement signed in July 1989 was opposed by the military as well as by the Tucayana Amerindians, a group of native Indians armed by the military. On Dec. 24, 1990, military leaders once again seized control of the government. In response to external political pressure from the United States, The Netherlands, France, and the Organization of American States, elections were held on May 25, 1991. The New Front for Democracy and Development, which included the old Front and the Suriname Labour Party (Surinaamse Partij van de Arbeid; SPA), won a majority of seats in the National Assembly and was soon able to pass an act that officially deprived the military of all political power. The New Front government also signed an agreement with the JC and the Tucayana in August 1992 regarding repatriation of Bush Negroes from French Guiana. The Netherlands and the United States resumed development aid. Increasingly, however, foreign governments, especially the United States, worried about the growing role of Suriname as a main transit port for cocaine and the alleged role of the military in drug trafficking.