Guyana delegation to engage incoming UN Chief over Venezuela border dispute

Guyana and Venezuela are still at odds over the resolution of their more than a century-old border controversy.
Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, during a news brief in the nation’s capital Georgetown on Thursday, said that a delegation will be travelling to New York next week to engage the incoming United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, to have the matter taken to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
He added his colleague and Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge, is scheduled to lead the delegation along with the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Audrey Jardine-Waddell.
Expounding on the visit, Trotman said that the engagement would be part of a process in securing a final recommendation.
The Minister’s revelation would come days after Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, Delcy Rodriguez, met with Chief of Staff of the Secretariat of the Organization of Nations United Nations (UN), Edmond Mulet, to discuss her country’s position.
According to Venezuela media reports, Rodríguez during the meeting last Friday, “reiterated” the willingness of her Government to resolve the territorial dispute with Guyana over the Essequibo region through diplomacy rather than having the matter taken to the ICJ.
On July 10, 2015, Venezuela formally asked the UN to appoint a Good Officer to mediate the dispute with Guyana and to declare its sovereign and just rights over the territory of Essequibo.
However, the Government of Guyana has insisted that the simmering border controversy should be settled once and for all in an international court.
Over the last 25 years, the two nations have been using the Good Officer process, which is overlooked by the UN General Secretary. Guyana has been arguing that this process is a waste of time.
Last year, Guyana discovered oil in its offshore concessions. This resulted in Venezuela immediately moving to restate its claim to Essequibo as well as the waters where the oil was discovered.
The matter was subsequently taken before the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon where both nations agreed to have the UN Chief decide the best way forward to decide once and for all, on a solution.
Since then, UN officials have visited Guyana and Venezuela to gather information.
Guyana has been using a number of international forums including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to air its concerns over Venezuela’s claimed aggression.
Venezuela’s claim is almost for the entire Essequibo, the biggest county in Guyana, a mineral rich area known more for its vast areas of untouched forest which happens to be home to thousands of citizens mainly of indigenous ancestry.
The outgoing Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, had made a commitment to Guyana that a decision would be rendered before year-end on the way forward. He is due to step down at the end of this year.

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