UN Security Council to consider Guyana’s request for intervention

Last Updated on Thursday, 7 December 2023, 14:39 by Denis Chabrol

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) would on Friday consider Guyana’s request for intervention into Venezuela’s violation of the International Court Justice’s (ICJ) order that prohibits that country from taking any action against Guyana’s administration and control of the Essequibo County.

“Tomorrow, the United Nations Security C0uncil would be considering the request from Guyana,” he said. The Security Council meeting would be held at 3 PM. “We’re extremely pleased that they have taken up this matter with this sense of urgency,” he said.

Mr Jagdeo also welcomed United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ transmission of the ICJ’s order to the UNSC.

Mr Jagdeo, at the time of publishing this report, did not provide details about Guyana’s request to the UNSC, but Attorney General Anil Nandlall is in on record as saying that Guyana could ask for economic sanctions or military action to force Venezuela to comply with the ICJ’s orders.

Guyana, he said, expected the UNSC to “deal with this matter swiftly” at a time when mainly residents of Essequibo were experiencing a “great deal of anxiety among our people.”

In addition to publicly issuing a three-month ultimatum for foreign companies to leave concessions that had been awarded by Guyana, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro had announced that Essequibo was now part of Venezuela’s map and that Guyanese county would be now part of its military zonal system.

Further, Venezuela plans to conduct a census of people living in Essequibo and pave the way for the granting of citizenship and identification cards to residents there. Mr Jagdeo added that “Maduro cannot be trusted,” he said.