— Guyana, Venezuela meet UN Secretary General today

— Guyana to continue push for ICJ settlement

PRESIDENT David Granger today will lead a high-level Guyanese delegation into meetings with officials from the United Nations (UN) and Venezuela to discuss the ongoing Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy.

Bringing the border controversy, in which Venezuela is claiming that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award is null and void, to a peaceful and just settlement remains a priority for the government and people of Guyana. The Tribunal Award had awarded more than 90 per cent of an area to then British Guiana (now Guyana), which was claimed by Venezuela.

Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge has disclosed that a high-level delegation led by President Granger will be meeting with the UN Secretary-General Personal Representative, Dag Halvor Nylander on Monday morning along with officials from the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to discuss the controversy.

Another high-level meeting is also scheduled for Monday with President Granger and the U.N. Secretary-General, António Guterres.

Former Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and Guterres, in keeping with the tenets of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, had agreed that if by the end of December 2017 significant progress has not been made towards arriving at a full agreement for the settlement of the controversy, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be the next means of peaceful settlement, unless Guyana and Venezuela jointly request otherwise.

Guyana strongly believes that the controversy should be settled at the level of the ICJ.

NUMBER ONE PRIORITY
The protection of Guyana’s territorial integrity, remains the number one priority for Foreign Affairs Ministry, Minister Greenidge told US-based Guyanese during a Diaspora Engagement Consultation in Queens, New York on Saturday.

“If you have no territory, you have no diaspora. If you can’t defend your borders, your diaspora has nowhere to go,” Minister Greenidge posited.

Minister Greenidge and President Granger are currently in New York attending the 72nd Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA72). Last week, ahead of his address during the General Debate, President Granger held bilateral and multilateral talks with several countries and international bodies including Brazil, Mauritius and the Commonwealth, during which he sought their recommitment to Guyana.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, the President spoke pointedly to the risks, if the controversy is allowed to be further prolonged, warning world leaders that there will be no peace this side of the Atlantic if justice does not prevail in the age-old Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.

Known for his equanimity in the face of adversity, the former army commander and retired brigadier told his colleague heads of state and other world leaders: “Four UN Secretaries-General have been seized of the Venezuelan claims. The choice has become one between just and peaceful settlement, in accordance with international law, and a Venezuelan posture of attrition that is increasingly more blustering and militaristic. In this matter, protraction is the enemy of resolution, and the ally of sustained conflict.”

Ahead of UNGA72, the Venezuelan Government agreed that the border controversy would be referred to the ICJ, if significant progress is not made at the end of 2017 at the level of the Good Offices Process.

But it subsequently altered its statement, saying that mediation will be supported by the UN in order to find a practical and satisfactory solution to the controversy.

It is perhaps the cue President Granger was waiting for, as he told world leaders in no uncertain terms that they should not allow the process set out by the former UN Secretary-General to be frustrated by Venezuela.

“Guyana looks to the international community to ensure that Venezuela is not allowed to thwart the processes of judicial settlement, which is the clear and agreed path to peace and justice,” he told the world leaders.

EXISTENTIAL THREAT
Minister Greenidge has maintained that the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy is an existential threat to Guyana and should be settled at the level of the ICJ.

In an interview with the UN on a social media platform – Facebook – the foreign affairs minister in detailing the history of the controversy, called for Venezuela to respect international treaties.

“Venezuela signed a treaty in 1897, it’s called the Washington Treaty because the US helped to force Britain into signing it, defining the borders. In 1899, the borders were defined by an arbitral tribunal. In 1905, they (the Venezuelans) helped to mark the borders, and then in 1962 in the hype of the cold war, and we believe out of greed they suddenly saw an opportunity to make a noise and to threaten Guiana,” he explained.

It was noted that Britain had agreed to solve the controversy but he made it clear that it has nothing to do with where the countries’ borders are located.

“That is a controversy over a status of an award, it is not about whether the border should be here or there. The 1966 Agreement only said that these two countries will talk with a view to settling, and if they don’t talk, and don’t settle, we will go to an option on the UN menu from Article 33 of the UN Treaty,” he further explained.

Minister Greenidge noted that in 51 years, the countries with mediation from the UN have exhausted all of the possible options with the exception of one – taking the matter of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

In February 2016, when Guyana marked the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement, renowned Guyanese Diplomat, Sir Shridath Ramphal had said that the controversy should be settled at the ICJ.

The Guyanese diplomat, who was present upon the signing of the agreement on February 17, 1966, had said that he would like to see a proper conclusion to the matter, and more specifically, the fulfillment of the Geneva Agreement.

The career diplomat had noted that while the people of Venezuela are “good people”, they have been “indoctrinated by their Governments.” Guyana, he said, holds out a hand of friendship to the people of Venezuela. He also noted that one of the great achievements of the settlement would be “an opportunity for true friendship to develop between the peoples of Guyana and Venezuela.”