The Guyana-Venezuela border row
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
March 7, 2007
A MOST important unfinished business of the late distinguished Barbadian diplomat, attorney, human rights advocate and columnist, Oliver Jackman, who passed away in January, was the significant role he was playing as facilitator in the age-old territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela.
By mutual agreement of both Caribbean Basin countries, Jackman was functioning under the Good Officer Process of the United Nations Secretary General in the ongoing quest for a peaceful, practical resolution to the controversy arising from Venezuela's historical claim to some two thirds of Guyana's 83,000 square miles.
Guyana's rejection of Venezuela's claim resides in an 1899 ruling of an international tribunal that had deemed as a "full, perfect and final settlement" the delimitation of territorial boundaries as they currently exist between the two South American neighbours.
But successive administrations -- both civilian and military -- in Caracas were to persist in the territorial claim that extends to the sprawling mineral and forest-rich Essequibo region.
It is a situation that has negatively impacted since Guyana's independence in 1966, on efforts by successive governments in Georgetown to attract international and regional investments for economic development in the disputed area.
The late Jackman had succeeded Sir Alister McIntyre as the UN Secretary General's special representative in the territorial dispute. Since his passing no likely successor has been mooted; and, according to a report out of Georgetown this past weekend, Guyana is anxious for an initiative by new Secretary General Bin Ki-Moon for Jackman's replacement.
The intention was to have this and other issues raised during a planned bilateral meeting during the just-concluded Rio Group Summit in Georgetown between the Presidents of Guyana (Bharrat Jagdo) and Venezuela (Hugo Chavez).
Surprisingly, however, having confirmed his participation in the summit, the Venezuelan leader failed to turn up, as expected, last Friday with an explanation being offered that he was "not well".
In Chavez's absence, his Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro, told the media of a likely bilateral meeting on the matter between the Heads of State of the two countries. He stressed that Guyana could count on the "absolute solidarity" of the Venezuelan people for a peaceful settlement to the problem.
As in the case of its support for Belize in the territorial row with Guatemala, CARICOM remains consistent in its solidarity with Guyana's resistance to Venezuela's claim, while continuing to urge both sides to find a peaceful resolution. Both Guyana and Venezuela are founding members of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
Perhaps the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon should shed some light on the status quo of arrangements with Guyana and Venezuela to find a suitable replacement for the late Jackman so that official verbal assurances could be supported by practical actions for the long overdue resolution to this colonial age dispute that goes back 208 years ago.
(Courtesy, yesterday's Barbados Daily Nation)