SUMMARY
SLA (Surinamese Liberation Army or Surinamese National Liberation Army; generally known as Jungle Commando) was a rebel group active in Suriname. The group was formed in 1986 by Ronnie Brunswijk, a former bodyguard of army commander and then de facto leader of Suriname, Lt. Col. Dési Bouterse. Bouterse seized power through a military coup in 1980, only five years after Suriname’s independence from the Netherlands, and the coup was at first welcomed by the Surinamese population. However, as the military junta tried to consolidate its power through censoring the media and eliminating opponents, and as economic performance declined, it grew all the more unpopular amongst the people. The SLA claimed that its primary goal was to overthrow the Bouterse regime, restore democracy and hold elections. In a statement read out on Dutch television on 29 July 1986, Brunswijk called on the people of Suriname to resist the regime.
The SLA mainly consisted of Maroons, an ethnic group descended from African slaves that escaped from costal Suriname in the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition to democratic reforms, Brunswijk, himself a Maroon, demanded political and economic rights for the Maroons of Suriname. The Maroons inhabited large parts of eastern Suriname and it was in this part of the country that the SLA mainly operated and where most of the fighting between the group and the Government of Suriname took place. The SLA controlled a large area of eastern Suriname and it was reported that the group at one point controlled about one-third of the country.
There are few reliable estimates of SLA’s size, reported figures range from 200-2000 fighters. Brunswijk himself claimed that the maximum strength of his army was 1200 combatants. Many Surinamese expatriates and exiled politicians living in Europe supported the SLA but sources remain inconclusive on whether or not these supporters helped finance the rebellion.
In 1988, a new democratically elected government was installed in Suriname and peace negotiations with the SLA was initiated. In 1989, the Kourou Accord was signed between the government and Brunswijk. The agreement included provisions such as the incorporation of the SLA in the police force and the repatriation of the Maroon refugees in French Guiana. However, Bouterse and the other military leaders opposed parts of the agreement and managed to impede its implementation. In 1990, peace talks resumed and in 1992, a final agreement that included supervised rebel surrendering of weapons, as well as the recruitment of rebels into the police force, settled the conflict between the two parties. Later, Brunswijk went on to become the chairman of the political party General Liberation and Development Party (ABOP). In 2005, the party entered into a coalition called the A-Combination and Brunswijk was elected as a member of the National Assembly.
