Georgetown: The United Nations Secretary General has informed the Government of Guyana that the UN has decided to refer the settlement of the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy to the International Court.
Following a number of aggressive moves by Venezuela in 2015, Guyana complained to several world leaders and countries, including to outgoing Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon.
In October 2015 in New York, at the United Nations Headquarters, the then UN Chief brought both President David Granger and Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, together in an effort to find a solution to the brewing situation.
Venezuela, in May 2015, revived a simmering claim to mineral-rich Essequibo, Guyana’s largest county.
Venezuela’s aggression would have come days after Guyana voted in a new Government in early general elections and about the same time that US-owned ExxonMobil announced that it struck oil in Guyana’s waters. Venezuela also claimed those waters.
In the ensuing row, Venezuela ended an oil-for-rice deal, made under the Petro-Caribe arrangements, with Guyana.
Venezuela is now facing severe internal turmoil. Observers believed that Maduro is using the border controversy to divert attention from the internal situation.
In February, the Office of the Spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary-General said that the UN will give the Good Offices Process a try for another year and then if the two countries fail to agree on a solution, the matter will go to the International Court of Justice.
Norwegian Ambassador, Dag Nylander, was appointed as the representative.
President Granger, a historian, has made it clear that Guyana will settle for nothing less a juridical settlement- in the international court- once and for all.
He had insisted that the Good Offices Process has failed to make progress over the last 25 years.
Guyana has been maintaining that the border issue has been settled decades ago. “The Secretary General of the United Nations acting under the 1966 Geneva Agreement has informed the President of his decision to give the ‘good offices’ process one last period of twelve months, that is to the end of 2017.
“If, at the end of that period, the Secretary-General concludes that significant progress has not been made towards arriving at a full agreement for the solution of the controversy, he will choose the International Court of Justice as the next means of settlement, unless the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela jointly request that he refrain from doing so.”
Late October, the UN announced that the Foreign Ministers of Guyana and Venezuela met in New York on October 28 and October 29, 2017 to discuss the border controversy between their two countries.
Nylander facilitated discussions organised within the framework of the Good Offices mandate.
The UN said that the Foreign Ministers and their delegations exchanged views on issues related to the controversy with the aim of exploring options for a full agreement for its solution.
“They also reaffirmed their commitment to the Good Offices process and reiterated that their Governments will remain actively engaged with the Personal Representative. The parties agreed to meet again to continue discussions within this framework, and to explore options for the resolution of the border controversy.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.