Govt alerts Sir Alister on Caracas troop ploys - considers them a serious matter By Patrick Denny Stabroek News October 9, 1999 The Government of Guyana has informed UN Good Officer, Sir Alister McIntyre, of Venezuelan military manoeuvres on the borders between the two countries, according to Foreign Minister, Clement Rohee. Rohee, who accompanied President Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference yesterday at the Office of the President, considered the movements a "matter of serious concern" given the existing border controversy and in the absence of "advance notice" that these manoeuvres would take place. President Jagdeo said he understood that the agreement which allowed for advance notification about activities of this sort had lapsed about a year ago. Rohee said that while he has accepted the assurance over the telephone of his Venezuelan counterpart, Jose Vicente Rangel, that the troops' activity should not be interpreted as a threat to Guyana's territorial integrity and national sovereignty, the government would still continue to monitor events at the border. Rangel's assurance is yet to be received in writing, Rohee disclosed. Rangel had said that the deployments were "exclusively related to an exercise being conducted to counter the trafficking of drugs in the area". However, reliable sources told Stabroek News that the Venezuelan acts included the firing of shots from Ankoko Island - half of which Caracas has illegally occupied since 1968 - and intrusions into Guyana's airspace by helicopters. Other moves by the Guyana government in the face of the Venezuelan action, according to President Jagdeo, include mobilisation of support bilaterally with friendly governments and among the multilateral organisations. Rohee is also to brief the parliamentary political parties next week. PNC leader Desmond Hoyte at a press conference on Thursday had urged the government to mobilise support to counter what he said was Venezuelan "sabre-rattling". President Jagdeo also expressed his confidence in the Guyana Defence Force--despite the numerical difference between it and the Venezuelan armed forces--and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over their ability to defend and maintain Guyana's territorial integrity and national sovereignty. However, mobilisation of international support by the Foreign Ministry, President Jagdeo explained, by the very nature of the activity could not be carried out in the glare of publicity. But he said that he knew that it was being vigorously pursued. The President also reiterated that Guyana's policy as it related to the border controversy with Venezuela was a continuation of that which was pursued by previous administrations and that it was one issue on which all the political parties were at one. He noted that following the 1968 occupation of Guyana's territory on Ankoko island, the administration of the day relied on mobilising international support for Guyana in the controversy. In a comment after the press conference, Rohee confirmed that the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award which settled the border between Guyana and Venezuela was still the lynchpin of Guyana's policy on the controversy. He said that media reports to the contrary should be disregarded. About the statement issued by the Caracas administration on the centennial of the Arbitral Award, Rohee said that it contained nothing that was "unexpected". The statements issued by both governments accorded with the discussion he and Rangel had in New York on how the centennial of the 1889 Arbitral Award would be observed. Rohee also said that based on those discussions, it was expected that four sub-committees of the High Level Bilateral Commission would be set up to energise Guyana-Venezuela relations. He also disclosed that when he and Rangel briefed the representative of UN General Secretary Kofi Annan it was agreed that an early meeting would be arranged between President Jagdeo and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples