On the 21th july 1986 a small platoon of the army of Suriname was attacked and some were taken hostage in district Commewijne at Stolkertijver. By now Brunswijk had organised and financed a group called “the jungle commando”. Suriname was very surprised by this incident and , this would be the beginning of big problems for the country, but mostly for the people in the east of Suriname and the interior.

Above: damaged houses  in Moengo

The army went to the east to look for Brunswijk and his group and subsequently the first innocent citizen was kiled. A two year baby boy of the village called Morakondre. He was killed in his mothers arms, when they were hiding in a house and the army started shooting in their direction. The army also shot at other people and burned many other small villages.

Refugees and other problems
Many citizens had to leave their homes and escaped to the capital of Suriname (Paramaribo) or to La Guyane ( French Guyana). The war then went on, and at the village Moiwana which is situated 13 km from Albina the biggest drama in the history of Suriname took place. On 29 november 1986 the army attacked this village and killed at least 40 persons including children and pregnant women. The war also in  Brokopondo the war had  its impact.                      Right: damaged house 
 

The jungle commando burned many houses of citizens whom they accused of being spies of the army. This was cause for more displacement and other problems. During this war the centre of Marowijne (Albina) was totally destroyed.The marron citizens of Marowijne belong to the tribe called Auccaners and those of Brokopondo are Saramaccaners. This brought along a very troubled relationship between these two groups. In this civil war many innocent citizens were killed by the army or the jungle commando. Not only marrons had been killed innocent ,also amer-indian because they were suspected of spionage for Bouterse.

The Aftermath
During the war many marrons had moved to the interior to join Brunswijk because they heard that they would get money (80000 surinaamse gulden) after the fight and that the war would take only three months. In reality the war continued for six years and most of the JC soldiers did not get paid, while others fought till the end or some just left it. Most JC soldiers ended up with poverty, trauma and some were banished from the population. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with an ex jungle commando rebel or with an ex soldier who fought during the war. Many army soldiers were facing the same problems. The government of Suriname did not take care of the ex army soldiers after the war, and that has become a problem. Due to the change in government the attention was focused on other more pressing subjects. Since then nothing was done to help the soldiers or JC fighters many of these ex-soldiers and fighters use drugs and others are very traumasized. In the city of Paramaribo a lot of the homeless and drugabusers are ex military personnel or Jungle commando fighters who were traumatized, and became unfit for military or police duties.

As for the refugees, the reception of the refugees in Paramaribo was very bad. In La Guyane. It was a lot better. In Paramaribo the refugees were confronted with a new phenomenon there were no adequate housing facilities for the number of refugees. The people then went to the neighbourhoods ,, Pontbuiten and Sophia’s Lust to live in houses which were not finished jet. No doors, and windows, and most of them without a proper sewer system.. The people who went to the city didn’t get any financial support of the government. The marrons held a very bad attitude of squattering houses in Paramaribo. The last neighbourhood which they occupied illegally is Sunny Point which was build by the government of Jules Wijdenbosch.
(1998). Sunnypoint has become kind of a symbol of the situation the marrons which were displaced are in right now. Marrons have also inherited a bad reputation because a lot of the armed robbery’s are commited by young marrons without much of a perspective.

Moiwana 86
After the civil war the Moiwana 86 foundation was created by the human right activist Stanley Rench. With this he tried to give publicity to Suriname and focus the attention of the national and international organisations on this massacre. and other crimes committed during this period. The representative of the refugees in French Guyana is André Ajintoena , at least 27 persons with the name Ajintoena had been killed at Moiwana. Many of the refugees still live in Charven in the community of Mana. They also built an monument to remember the victims of Moiwana.

In 2005 the (IACHR) sentenced the state of Suriname for their part in what had happened during the civil war. In their report about this matter they sentenced the government of Suriname to an ultimatum. The Surinamese government had to publicly apologize to the family of the victims of Moiwana and the rest of the country and compensate them for the losses. The government of Suriname got five years to rebuild Moiwana starting on 15july 2005. 130 family members of the victims or survivors of Moiwana will get 13.000 US dollars to rebuild their houses. The(IACHR)donated 1.2 mln US dollars for the rebuilding but untill now the government has not done anything to start this project.

On 15 july 2006 the president of Suriname Ronald Venetiaan publicly apoligized on behalf of the government. This memorable moment occurred in the district Marowijne at the Mungo stadion. Many people were invited including the representatives of the embassies present in Suriname. The chefs coutumiers of the clan Auccaners and the family of the victims and many other peoples were there. There were some small problems though. Ronnie Brunswijk was not happy with the fact that this did not took place in Mungotapoe. After the formal apology of the president , the delegation went to Mungotapoe for the traditional rituals for the dead.

At 18 July 2006 the documentary “Barpuru” was aired on the state television (STVS). This is an product of an dutch filmmaker of Suriname origine who lived in the Netherlands. In this documentary he showed images of the dead bodies in Moiwana. In this documentary survivors of the war and ex jungle commando members gave their opinions about the episode. They commented about the fact that nobody took care of them, some ex soldiers became drug addicts. The images of this documentary shocked the population of Suriname and the Netherlands.

Conclusion
All in all the civil war has left Suriname with deep wounds which “until this day” have left their visible and invisible scars. Tims can however heal some of these wounds. Other ones will not heal by itself. Some drastic choices will have to be made to empower the people in the affected districts in order to undo a lot off the negative consequences. Since the start of the war in 1986 Suriname has gone through some major changes. The affected citizens have gone through very positive and promising developments in Suriname and in French Guyana, but also through some very difficult times. Much of the developments in the east of Suriname and in Paramaribo can be explained by studying the civil war and its aftermath.
Written by: Brigitta Delmond