A six-member United Nations (UN) team arrived in Guyana yesterday for further discussions on the controversy resulting from Venezuela’s challenge to the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award settling the Guyana/ Venezuela border.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, said that the visit is a follow up to the visit by a UN Technical Mission in July, and is in accordance with the programme of activities laid out by the Secretary General following his meeting with the Presidents of Guyana and Vene-zuela on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on September 28.
According to the ministry, the six member team is being led by Chef de Cabinet of the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations Susana Malcorra.
Stabroek News confirmed the arrival of the team but there was no official word last evening on the discussions which were to be held yesterday.
Last week, newly-accredited US Ambassador to Guyana Perry Holloway urged that the Arbitral Award of 1899 settling the Guyana/Venezuela boundary be respected and he stressed that peaceful means consistent with international law should be used to settle the ongoing controversy between the two countries.
The relationship between the two countries has been deteriorating since May, when Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro issued a decree laying claim to most of Guyana’s territorial waters along the Essequibo Coast. That Decree was subsequently withdrawn and replaced with a new one that was still offensive. The initial decree was issued after United States-based oil company Exxon Mobil announced that it has discovered significant evidence of oil in the Stabroek Block offshore Demerara.
About three weeks ago, there was a noticeable buildup of troops near the Guyana/ Venezuela border and armed boats in the Cuyuni River, which falls within Guyana’s territory. Venezuela later withdrew the troops, while saying they were deployed as part of an anti-narcotics operation.
Guyana is insisting that the controversy be settled juridically, while Venezuela wants the Good Offices process to continue.
