Continental shelf quarrel…Guyana: E’bo claim settled since 1899

Mar 16, 2012 News

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-regrets Venezuela’s moves

The Guyana government yesterday insisted that a claim by neighbouring Venezuela over a substantial part of Essequibo has long been settled.
The issue has reared its head once again as Guyana makes an application to the United Nations to extend its continental shelf by a further 150 nautical miles.
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry restated its claims to western Essequibo while questioning the authority of a section of the United Nations to handle the matter.

The application is viewed as critical to Guyana, which has in recent times been aggressively exploring its waters in search of oil and would be more than happy to acquire new fishing grounds.
According to the Venezuelan government, it is rejecting the fact that the UN’s Commission on the Limits of Continental Shelf (CLCS) is even considering Guyana’s request.
This is because the UN’s Good Officer of the Secretary General is already looking into a number of issues between the two countries.
However, yesterday, the Guyana government made it clear that Guyana’s submission to the UN’s Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), pursuant to Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention), was done in a manner fully consistent with the provisions of international law, including the Convention.
Regrettable
The Foreign Ministry said the move by Venezuela to object to Guyana’s application for the extension was deeply regrettable.
“The submission itself was made without prejudice to maritime delimitation with other states in accordance with the provisions of Article 76 (10) of the Convention. The decision of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to object to Guyana’s Submission to the CLCS is therefore deeply regrettable.”
Regarding the issue of western Essequibo, to which Venezuela continues to lay claim, the Foreign Ministry made it clear that the boundary with that neighbouring country was definitively settled by the Arbitral Award of October 3rd, 1899.
Guyana has also informed the CLCS, in its submission, that “there are no disputes in the region relevant to this submission of data and information relating to the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
That statement remains legally and factually correct, the Ministry stressed.
“It should be noted that the Geneva Agreement of 17th February, 1966 was aimed at allowing the parties to resolve the matter of the claim of nullity and invalidity of the Arbitral Award by Venezuela and not to reopen the question of the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela.”
The territorial claim between the two countries over the disputed area west of the Essequibo River in Guyana has been simmering for years now.
Following the announcement by Guyana last September that it has applied to the UN to extend its continental shelf, and amidst tensions in Venezuela, the two governments had met in neutral Trinidad and Tobago to agree on the way forward.
On Tuesday, Venezuela insisted it objected to the fact that the UN’s CLCS was even handling the application. Guyana is due to make oral presentations on April 11.
Objected
“The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in accordance with the Joint Declaration signed by the Foreign Ministers of Venezuela and Guyana, in Port-of-Spain on September 30, 2011, fixed a position with the Secretary General of the United Nations regarding the information provided on September 6, 2011 by the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, and objected that such information is considered or qualified by the Commission.”
The Venezuelan government, in the statement, emphasised the “brotherly ties” that bind the peoples of Venezuela and Guyana and the excellent state of relations between the two governments, and said that the territory west of the Essequibo River is the subject of a territorial sovereignty dispute inherited from colonialism and subjected to the Geneva Agreement of 1966.
Venezuela also said that it remains committed to working with the UN’s Good Officer, Professor Norman Girvan, who was appointed to investigate the territorial dispute between the two countries and report to the Secretary General, Ban-ki-Moon.
Venezuela also said it had notified Guyana of its move and stance.
Guyana’s Foreign Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and her Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro had signed the Trinidad and Tobago agreement in September.
Since the announcement of Guyana’s intention to extend its continental shelf, there have been several statements from groups in Venezuela which felt that an age-old claim by that country on a large portion of Essequibo may be under threat.
The issue even had Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez warning that he will not allow “some sectors there (Guyana) or here (Venezuela) to create internal conflicts. We will not let that happen.”
One fringe group reportedly started its protests to whip up Venezuela’s sentiments by distributing maps of Venezuela showing Essequibo as part of that country’s territory.
The rumblings have been serious enough to persuade the two countries to meet.

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