• greater presence of People’s Militia in all regions

by Ariana Gordon

PRESIDENT David Granger has called on the reservist unit of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to be the Force’s eyes and ears. The President’s charge to the reserves was made at the Force’s annual Officers’ Conference on Thursday at Camp Ayanganna.

Granger said it was important for the reserve arm of the Force to be the army of the people as new and continuing threats to Guyana’s territorial integrity surface. The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces noted that even as Guyana re-introduced the Guyana People’s Militia, there is no immediate need to increase the current capacity of the GDF.
He noted that all eyes will be on the People’s Militia to support and supplement the regular force. “The strength of the Guyana Defence Force is not going to be increased above the current capacity levels. The Force however will be built up not only by a strong regular force but it will be augmented by a reserve force which as you know has already reverted to its original name,” President Granger told GDF Officers.
The President emphasised the need for both the regular and reserve arms of the GDF to be in “a state of readiness” at all times for deployment in the event of threats to Guyana and the Caribbean.
“Guyana’s borders are too extensive, its landscape is too expansive and the cost of maintaining large regular units, too expensive if we are to preserve our territorial and coastal security,” Granger stated as he disclosed that there would be much greater presence of the People’s Militia in all administrative regions.
“The reserve force will support and supplement the regular force. Reservists must be deployed in every region to ensure that Guyana’s defence is total and comprehensive…reservists will be the Force’s eyes and ears. Reservists will constitute a sort of army of the people,” the President added.
Meanwhile, on the issue of diplomacy and defence, Granger said Guyana from the time of independence had been the victim of various security problems, pointing to “outright aggression, annexation of our territory…,transnational crimes.” As such, the President said there was need for a “coherent and comprehensive defence strategy to conquer these threats that undermine the security and stability of the state.”
He noted that Guyana’s national defence strategy over the next four years must acknowledge the need to take steps in concert with our regional partners to address security threats facing the Caribbean.
“Guyana must be a reliable partner in the calls for regional security and ensuring that the Caribbean remains at peace. The philosophy of Guyana’s national defence strategy must reflect the thinking process to respond to multiple crises facing the country, Caribbean community and the continent- that is at the national, regional and international levels,” he added.
The country’s strategy must also emphasise that Guyana is a national power, but this must be done within the framework of regional interests. “Our strategy must ensure that our national independence is preserved; that our sovereignty is secure; and that our territorial integrity is guaranteed.”
President Granger said the country’s defence strategy is an undergirded concept of total national defence and implies that all elements and instruments of national power – be it economic, military, political, social and technological must be employed in the interest of national security.
The Head of State said Guyana for the past 50 years has deployed diplomacy as its first line of defence and has used diplomacy to denounce acts of aggression against its territory to isolate aggressive states internationally and to put pressure on them to retract their aggression and refrain from continuing similar acts.
Guyana, he said, mobilised international solidarity to support its sovereignty. This he said reaffirms important principles of international law, such as respect for orders and international agreements, the peaceful settlement of disputes, non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs of other states as the right features of co-existence.
“Guyana for 50 years successfully pursued diplomacy as an instrument of defence. Guyana is a small state, so we use our diplomatic might to garner support for our efforts to deter aggression, safeguard our territorial integrity and to pursue the cooperation of the international community,” President Granger asserted.

Speaking specifically to the unlawful claims made by Venezuela to Guyana’s territory, the President said Guyana will continue to pursue diplomacy to advance relations in the international community and to secure the country’s vital interests including defence against external threats. The Caribbean Zone, he said, has “imperial footprints” of Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, but Venezuela is persistently attempting to “redraw the maritime map of the Caribbean and to seize large portions of Guyana’s land and sea space.” Venezuela’s actions, the Guyanese President said, cannot be dismissed.
“Guyana’s sea and land frontiers are now, as much under threat as they have ever been in the past 50 years,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Granger said that as a founding member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), CARICOM was at the core of Guyana’s security strategy. He said Guyana is a partner in the promotion of regional peace and security. “Security like the coordination of foreign policy is another pillar of the Caribbean Community,” President Granger noted.
Last month at the 27th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government of CARICOM in Belize, heads of states examined the security threats facing the bloc and agreed to a protocol that will amend the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to incorporate the Council of National Security and Law Enforcement as an organ of the community and the implementation agency for crime and security impact as an institution of the community.
Guyana over the years has amply demonstrated its attitude and ability to deploy its defence force in support of several military missions over the years said President Granger, who noted that Guyana is a signatory to the Treaty of Security Assistance among Caribbean States.
“This treaty establishes a security assistance mechanism which has as its objective a sufficient and timely response to the management of natural and man-made disasters, expeditious, efficient mobilization and deployment of regional resources in order to manage and diffuse national and regional crises and to combat serious crimes and elimination of threats to national and regional security.”
Guyana, through diplomacy, has expanded its relation with a plethora of states and international organisations, including the CARIBBEAN Community (CARICOM), the Commonwealth, Union of South American States (UNASUR), Community of Latin America and Latin America States (CLEAC), Organisation of American States (OAS), MERCUSOR, Association of Caribbean States (ACS) among others.

Meanwhile, Chief of Staff, Brigadier Mark Phillips in his opening remarks noted that Officers of the GDF have been studying the threats to Guyana’s sovereignty and it is the studies that have served as reminders that the GDF “must be ever vigilant to defend our nation.”
Brigadier Phillips noted that this year will be no less hectic than last year but emphasised the need for better assets necessary to carry out the Force’s functions more efficiently.
“We remain hopeful that our shared aspirations for better air, maritime and engineering assets necessary to exercise greater land and maritime domain awareness will be converted into a defence capability plan to detail and schedule programmes for the period 2016-2020.”
At the start of 2016, the Force re-established the Guyana People’s Militia, a semi-autonomous reserve with the mandate of recruiting, training and mobilizing by needs within all ten administrative regions. “It is a vital component of our total national defence strategy,” Phillips stated.
In 2015, the Chief of Staff said there was heightened recruitment and training of new soldiers which began the previous year. “This has improved our staffing and today our border deployment is no longer hampered by threats,” he said.
The two-day annual Officers’ Conference is being held under the theme, “Towards greater operational readiness for national defence and security.”