UN Security Council to meet Friday to consider Guyana’s request regarding the border controversy
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is expected to convene a meeting on Friday, December 8 to consider Guyana’s request on the recent developments taking place in the ongoing border controversy with Venezuela.
Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo during a press conference at the Office of the President on Thursday, noted that the meeting is expected to take place at around 03:00 hours (03:00 pm).
The government, Dr Jagdeo expressed, is pleased that the security council has taken note of this matter with a sense of urgency.
“Also that the United Nations Secretary General has sent to the Security Council, the provisional measures announced by the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” the vice president disclosed.
This means that every country which is a part of the security council has in hand the December 1 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Guyana’s request for provisional measures.
The ICJ’s ruling made it clear that:
- The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, shall refrain from taking any action, which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Cooperative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area.
- Both parties must refrain from any action that can aggravate or extend the dispute before the court or make it more difficult to resolve
“We expect the Security Council to deal with this matter swiftly,” the senior government official informed media operatives.
Guyana on December 5 officially wrote to the UNSC after Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro on December 4 announced administrative measures geared towards illegally seizing Essequibo County. He had also ordered investors operating in the exclusive economic zone to exit within three months.
Guyana is slated to become a non-permanent member of the Security Council where it will serve from the period 2024-2025.
Permanent members such as the United States of America and others have already expressed enthusiasm in working closely with Guyana once it assumes its non-permanent seat on the UNSC in January 2024.