(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – The Ministry of Defence wants to restore conscription in 2013 to attract 400 men. Minister Lamuré Latour told Parliament he plans to have two drafts of 200 men each.
At the same time the army is seeking to expand its cadre by hiring 150 officers and non-commissioned officers on contract. Latour stressed that the army still has a lack of personnel which needs to be addressed.
‘Before, people could sign on voluntarily for a two or four-year contract and then decide to extend their contract of take a fulltime position. Now that will no longer be the case,’ Derrick Beeldsnijder, Head of Public Relations at Defense explains. The Conscription Bill has already been drafted and awaits debate in Parliament. Opposition legislators are against the Bill which seeks to restore conscription. The government terminated conscription in the 1980s.
President Bouterse and Minister Latour have both announced time and again that conscription will be restored despite fierce debates in Parliament. The government states that the Conscription Act will allow young people ample exemptions, so there need not be fears that young people will be forced to leave school only to fulfill their military duty. Latour points out that in the past 11 years there have been 15 drafts to attract men on contract for the army, the military police, central intelligence and the security service. Some of these men now have a fulltime job while others are negotiating an extension of their contract.
