Government has made it clear that it wants the United Nations to adhere to the commitment made to facilitate dialogue between Guyana and Venezuela to ensure that if by the end of 2017, a solution is not achieved, the matter would be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge said that during discussions between President David Granger and UN Secretary General António Guterres at the recently-concluded UN General Assembly, that commitment was given and it was hoped that it would be followed through.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge
“The matter would be referred to the ICJ unless the discussions showed insignificant progress in the resolution of the controversy. That is, if there is significant progress in establishing whether or not the 1899 arbitral award is null and void, then we would not have the matter referred to the ICJ,” he said on Wednesday.
Greenidge said it was emphasised to the UN Secretary General, the firm expectation that he would adhere to the Terms of Reference (ToRs) that he was party to and those included respect for the deadline. “And we raised with him some other concerns about the way the process is going. At this point in time, I am not able to give you any assurance,” he told the media.
UN Secretary General António Guterres
Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had said if by the end of 2017, no significant progress had been made towards arriving at a full agreement, he would choose the ICJ as the next means of settlement, unless both Governments jointly requested that he refrain from doing so.
During the UN General Assembly meeting, Granger and Greenidge met with Dag Halvor Nylander, the UN Secretary General’s personal representative on the border controversy. Asked whether the UN has given its assurance that it would respect the deadline and the procedure outlined, Greenidge said: “The deadline is a conditional one. It is dependent on significant progress and we sought to get explanation for a number of things that are in those ToRs and mandate and the assurance that the UN would adhere to it.”
The Minister had told the media previously that notwithstanding some of its concerns, Guyana embraced the UN Good Officer Process with the understanding that it would be implemented in good faith by all parties, including the UN.
Guyana, he said, has constantly stressed the consequences of uncertainty and the behaviour of Venezuela with respect to this controversy. For the most part, Greenidge said Venezuela’s behaviour has been mainly aimed at undermining Guyana’s development.
He added that while “Guyana has never had any difficulty speaking to Venezuela as regards attempts and its willingness to resolve the issue of the controversy and we will continue to be accommodating”, the country’s political, economic and social stability depends on the matter being resolved quickly.
With a territory that is several times bigger than Guyana’s and a population that is almost 40 times that of Guyana, Venezuela, in 1968, purported to claim the entire territorial sea of Guyana by means of the Leoni Decree, which has never been withdrawn. For decades now, Venezuela has occupied the Guyana side of Ankoko Island, objected to the development of hydropower stations in Essequibo, and has been staunchly opposed to Guyana exploring for oil offshore and onshore its Essequibo territory.
The Venezuelan Navy had, in 2013, intercepted and detained a Malaysian seismic vessel that had been conducting surveys in an offshore concession granted by Guyana to the United States-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, causing that company to leave and never return.
Days after the American oil giant ExxonMobil announced the discovery of oil in commercial quantities offshore Guyana, Venezuela’s President, Nicolás Maduro in a decree announced the purported unilateral extension of his country’s maritime boundary to take in all of the Atlantic sea offshore Essequibo. That sea-space also included several Caribbean island nations and had stretched as far as Suriname and French Guiana.
There have also been incidents inland Guyana, with Venezuelan aircraft attacking vessels operating on the portion of the Cuyuní River that the arbitration court had awarded to Guyana.
Guyana is now seeking relief through one of the options in Article 33 of the UN Charter. These options include arbitration and juridical settlement of the issue.
