SURINAME TO CONDUCT NEW CENSUS IN AUGUST

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.

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