– as UN arranges face-to-face sit-down to reach settlement
By Jarryl Bryan
Guyana has taken developments one step closer to a timely resolution of its border spat with neighbouring Venezuela: a high level meeting has been fixed between Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge and a Venezuelan delegation.
Organised by Norway’s Dag Halvor Nylander, the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General who has responsibility for the border controversy, this meeting was scheduled for this weekend (Saturday and today) in New York, and is aimed at providing a chance for the two governments to arrive at a solution.
News of the meeting was communicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Appointed in February of 2017, Nylander had visited Guyana a number of times to hold talks with President David Granger and Foreign Minister Greenidge, among others.
The Guyana delegation to the General Debate of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly had also met with Secretary-General António Guterres as well as Mr. Nylander in September. Informal discussions were also held with Venezuelan counterparts.
UNSG Representative Dag Halvor Nylander discussing the border spat with President David Granger back in April
Relations between Guyana and Venezuela have worsened ever since oil giant ExxonMobil announced in 2015 that it had found oil in Guyana. Venezuela has staunchly been against oil exploration in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, where multiple oil deposits were found by ExxonMobil.
In fact, Venezuela’s National Assembly had approved an agreement to reject the oil exploration activities in March 2017.
Venezuela, with almost 40 times the population of Guyana and a territory that is several times bigger, claimed in 1968 the entire territorial sea of Guyana by means of the Leoni Decree, which has never been withdrawn.
In 2015, the Government of Guyana requested then UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to take steps toward resolving the controversy. In 2016, as a consequence of a stalemate on the matter, the outgoing Ban Ki-moon agreed with his successor, Guterres, to continue to use the Good Offices Process until the end of 2017 as a means of arriving at a settlement.
It is with this intention that Guterres appointed Nylander as an envoy to resolve the border spat. According to the mandate of the Personal Representative, “If, by the end of 2017, the Secretary-General concludes that no significant progress has 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.” Assistance
Venezuela, once an economic powerhouse in the region because of its oil revenues, has been dealing with issues such as a spiralling economy and civil unrest. And despite the border spat, there have been several instances when Guyana has either been called on to render assistance or has offered such assistance to Venezuela.
Back in May of this year, Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Reina Diaz, had called on Guyana to support her government’s efforts to end civil unrest. While there have been varying reports, most have put the death toll at over 100.
The ambassador declared that this unrest has been caused by “radical sectors of the political opposition” who have a clear objective to “overthrow the legitimate and constitutional” Government of Venezuela and reverse the social achievements of the Venezuelan people.
She noted that, at the international level, Guyana can support the actions taken by the Venezuelan Government to resolve the situation in that country; and in this regard, Venezuela has already seen support from the region, including from CARICOM governments and CILAC.
There have been persistent reports of a shortage of basic services in Venezuela, including health services, due to the spiralling economy and unrest that have gripped the nation. And in September, Government had announced it would be providing medical assistance to Venezuelan nationals following an outbreak of measles in that Spanish speaking country.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, had disclosed that the matter came up during a cabinet meeting, and Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence informed the cabinet of the outbreak.
It is understood that the measles’ outbreak occurred in the eastern Venezuelan state of Bolivar, which borders Guyana along Region One (Barima/Waini) and Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).
The information the minister provided to cabinet, Harmon related, came from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).
“(They) have alerted member states of the risk of the outbreak occurring from imported measles cases, and have advised that Guyana ensure a high level of surveillance and adopt adequate vaccination measures to prevent the spread of the virus,” he related.
“It was also reported that Venezuelan nationals were crossing the border into Guyana, especially at Region One, to seek medical treatment for malaria. Our last report was that there were at least 368 cases of malaria (reported) by our national health authorities in Region One, and the Venezuelan citizens who sought treatment were treated,” Harmon had informed the media.
Considering this to be part of Guyana’s international humanitarian contributions, Harmon related that instructions were given for the Public Health Ministry to assist any Venezuelan citizen seeking treatment. This assistance, he had said, would encompass both Venezuelans and Guyanese who are living in the Spanish-speaking country.
