With the end of 2017 behind us and the United Nations (UN) Good Offices Process towards arriving at a settlement over the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela effectively concluded, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge has said that a decision from the UN is expected shortly.
According to the Foreign Affairs Minister, “we have involved the Opposition in our preparations during this final year of a good offices process with an enhanced mediation mandate, but rules of confidentiality have bound us beyond that to this stage. 2017 is over.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs looks forward to sharing more widely the path ahead once we have received the decision of the UN Secretary-General, which we expect shortly.”
His contentions are grounded in the sentiments expressed by incumbent UN Secretary General (SG) António Guterres and his predecessor Ban Ki-moon that the border controversy over the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal, if not resolved by the end of 2017, would be taken to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if there was no satisfactory resolution to the dialogue.
Guterres had in 2017 appointed Norway’s Ambassador Dag Halvor Nylander to represent him in the Good Offices Process.
Nylander had visited Guyana a number of times to hold talks with President David Granger and Minister Greenidge, among others.
Moreover, Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Audrey Jardine-Waddell was quoted in the media as saying that the UN SG would determine the next step after Nylander submits his report on the Good Offices Process to him (Guterres).
However, Jardine-Waddell noted that while the Process effectively came to an end on December 31, 2017, the UN arriving at a decision might take more time.
The decades old controversy between the neighbouring countries began in 1962 when Venezuela claimed that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the Guyana-Venezuela border, is null and void.
Relations between Guyana and Venezuela have worsened ever since oil giant ExxonMobil announced in 2015 that it has found oil in Guyana. Venezuela has staunchly been against oil exploration in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, where ExxonMobil found multiple oil deposits.
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 towards resolving the controversy. In 2016, because 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 controversy. 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.”
Guyana has maintained that the only way to settle the controversy is by way of a juridical settlement at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Venezuela’s claim to two-thirds of Guyana has escalated over the years, with various displays of aggression.
