A United Nations (UN) mission is here for talks with the government and others on options under the Geneva Agreement of 1966 for a resolution of the border controversy with Venezuela.
A release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said the mission is in keeping with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s undertaking to make this examination after Guyana stated that 25 years of the Good Offices Process under UN auspices has yielded no solution but has seen periodic attempts by Venezuela to stymie this country’s development.
The most recent example of this was the issuing on May 26th this year of a maritime decree by Caracas seeking to claim major swathes of Guyana’s Atlantic waters. The decree came just after a major oil find was announced by a US company in Guyana’s waters.
After a vociferous outcry by Guyana at various fora including a Caricom Heads of Govern-ment summit, Caracas rescinded this decree and issued another which however remains of concern to Georgetown.
The maritime decree has led to the David Granger administration saying that the time has come for a juridical settlement of the controversy which revolves around Caracas’s contention that the 1899 Arbitral Award settling the boundaries between the two countries is null and void. Venezuela wants the Good Offices process to continue.
The release from the ministry said that while in Guyana, the UN team will meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge; former Guy-ana Facilitator in the Good Offices Process, Ralph Ramkarran; former foreign ministers of Guyana Sir Shridath Ramphal, Rashleigh Jackson and Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; Ambassadors Rudy Collins and Elisabeth Harper and Major General Ret’d Joe Singh.
The UN Mission is led by Martha Doggett, Chief of the Americas Division, Department of Political Affairs of the UN and is scheduled to depart on September 2nd.
